2 rules, 150 years

Community and Comfort

2010-09-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like Albert Einstein. Not because I'm a German-Swiss nobel laureate or am considered the father of modern physics. I didn't discover the law of the photoelectric effect. I've got no claim to fame on the theories of relativity nor can I explain the perihelion procession of Mercury and didn't contribute to the quantum theory of a monotomic gas. (Ok, I wiki'd the man)

But, because there is a constant human struggle. I want to do God's will, summed up pretty succinctly by Jesus when he said "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. The whole of the law is summed up in these two commandments"

Problem with loving people? You have to be around them to love them. And some of them are irritating, ugly and some of them are perfectly normal but just grate on your nerves. And other days, people are as wonderful as they can be but I aint always the most pleasant person to be around and I just want to be alone.

See, I love the idea of living in community, of sharing your life with those around you. Your family, church family, neighbors and community. In fact as I sit here and type this with the door and windows open, listening to the huge group of kids in our neighborhood playing in my front yard....I love community. As I sat around the backyard fire last night, and later the living room with a group of close friends, singing songs and sharing what God is showing us in our lives (with our kids running around and being goofy the whole time)....I love community. While we were doing that in the living room last night and 7 or 8 of the kids from the neighborhood wanted to come in and hang out at our house during the Bible study...I love community. When my dad and I were huddled around the laptop watching the Bama game the other day and 5 of the neighborhood kids came in, helped themselves to the chili on the stove and huddled around the computer with us....I love community.

But then there are other days. Rough day at work, too busy to do much but wave at a neighbor, rush through the workday, inhale dinner, fight with the kids to do homework, get them in bed then collapse ourselves....community aint all it's cracked up to be.

On those days...I daydream. This is my daydream. My family owns a farm in Georgia. My father and Aunt grew up there and all of us kids and grandkids and our friends grew up visiting during the summers. It's roughly 75 acres....give or take a few (no official survey has been done in ages. One of the boundaries is listed as being the branch off the creek). It has a house, what used to be the smokehouse which now is a tin roof shelter with a porch swing, a red barn and what used to be the tobacco barn which now holds hay for the cattle. It also has two ponds and some great woods for playing paintball. But what is even better than the spread out acreage...is the fact that it is a 1/2 mile off of the main dirt road. That's right....turn off the truck route onto Tallokas road, go a few miles and turn right onto the red clay Greenfield Church Road, then hang a left onto Goodson lane, go a half a mile around the bend in the driveway and there is the farm, surrounded on all sides by woods and other farms. Can't even see another house from the farm. Our entire family of 20+ descends like locusts once a year for Thanksgiving/Christmas/Family Reunion.

But in my daydream, I move my family there, live off the land raising grass fed hormone free cattle, free range chicken and pork as well as organic vegetables. This daydream, in my mind is utopia because I can avoid all contact with other people and spend all day every day with my family, and if we get irritated at one another, just take a walk to a pond and simmer down. There is one problem with this daydream.....there are no neighbors for me to love as myself.

This is where I identify with Albert Einstein. See, he once said "My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibilty has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced freedom from the need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities"

He was like me in my daydream....perfectly content to be "free" of direct contact with other human beings and human communities. Yet, he felt passionate that he was responsible to live in community.

Jesus never said those two commandments were easy, only that they were required. Perhaps this November when I go to the farm for Thanksmas I will have an opportunity to stroll to the back of the pasture, breathe deeply and enjoy my "pronounced freedom from the need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities" for about 5 minutes....then it will be back to the real business of Loving my neighbor as myself.

Reflections from a 10 year old

2010-07-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

Karston will be getting baptized tomorrow morning and I asked him to sit down with a notebook and answer two questions for me.

One: What does it mean to be a Christian? (and I quote)

"Being a Christian means a lot to me and many others. Here are three examples of what it means. The first example is the belief of Christ of God. All the Christians I know including me believe in God. The belief of Christ is a big part of Christianity.

My second example for you is worship. Many Christians worship because it is just like talking to God, it's how we show we love him.

Last but not least is praying. We Christians believe praying is a really big thing and I agree.. If we pray for forgiveness God will most definitely forgive you.

It is much more to be a Christian than this. But there are some of the reasons"

Second: What does baptism mean?

"What it means to be baptized is like being resurrected. When you go under you're dying and when you come back up you're being brought back too, so it's like starting a new life."

Good stuff huh?

Evil Roots

2010-06-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

James 5:4-6 says

"For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven's Armies. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people, who did not resist you."

When I read this I immediately thought of large American corporations. Those who have been acused of violating human rights and child labor laws with their overseas manufacturing. Taking advantage of third world poverty allowing manufacturing at pennies on the dollar for the sake of wide profit margins. I think of the poultry company chronicled in the documentary Food, Inc. that would bus in illegal immigrants to work at below poverty wages....then seasonally when they were no longer needed, would call immigration authorities to have them arrested and deported. Or, for that matter, the companies and small businesses all over the country that employ undocumented workers at very low wages enticing them to illegally cross borders to create a better life for their family at the risk of their own life and risk of arrest. I also think of the AG giant also chronicled in Food, Inc that created patents on their seeds that puts small, honest, hard working farmers at risk of going out of business, or worse, criminal charges.

I think of BP, who hoard massive amounts of money, have record setting earnings and are able to drill for free off our shores yet don't spend the money to take precautions against enormous environmental disasters that destroy God's creation and put small businesses out of work and then refuse to direct all their efforts and finances towards creating a solution.

It makes me mad and I stand in righteous indignation with James and figuratively plant my hands on my hips, give a disapproving stare and shake my finger while taking comfort in the fact that they have "fattened themselves for the day of slaughter".

Unfortunately, God doesn't let me off the hook quite so easily. I always feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit to view Scripture as a mirror into my own life.

Where do I put my resources to work? Safely in my 401k plan? In a High Yield online savings account? In a safe in the house (no, for those of you ready to search my closets), in fine clothing or nice vehicles? In a nice home that fulfills some culturally imposed dream? On vacations and frivolous recreation? Or worse, investing in stock of the very corporations that commit the above mentioned atrocities? Or do I invest my money in financing the advance of the Kingdom of God (love, peace, mercy, justice, feeding and clothing the "least of these") by tithing and donating to worthy organizations. Do I set money aside to meet the needs of people that God brings into my path specifically to be blessed through me? Do I take my occasional excesses and share them? Do I pack a lunch to take to the city to give a homeless person? Do I take my leftovers from a restaurant meal and give them to someone needy, as the Old Testament commanded farmers to leave the corners of their field unharvested so the needy could be taken care of?

I am reminded of this by my father's Facebook post this morning.

"Spoke to someone yesterday who had tons of money. I commented that I have not done well for myself towards retirement. He said "Oh yes you have. I have money, but I have done nothing of significance with my life. You have impacted people and that is worth more than what I have." Just a reminder that eternity is more important than temporal wealth"

John Calvin once said

"They who abound in wealth seldom keep within the bounds of moderation, but abuse their abundance by extreme indulgences. There are, indeed, some rich men as I have said, who pine themselves in the midst of their abundance. For it was not without reason that the poets have imagined Tantalus to be hungry near a table well furnished. There have ever been Tantalians in the world. But James, as it has been said, does not speak of all rich men. It is enough that we see this vice commonly prevailing among the rich, that they are given too much to luxuries, to pomps and superfluities. And though the Lord allows them to live freely on what they have, yet profusion ought to be avoided and frugality practiced. For it was not in vain that the Lord by his prophets severly reproved those who slept on beds of ivory, who used precious ointments, who delighted themselves at their feasts with the sound of the harp, who were like fat cows in rich pastures. For all these things have been said, for this end, THAT WE MAY KNOW THAT MODERATION OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED, AND THAT EXRAVAGANCE IS DISPLEASING TO GOD."

Bernard of Clairvaux says:

"O vanity of vanities....Every part of the church shines, but the poor man is hungry. The church walls are clothed in gold, while the children of the church remain naked....What is gold doing in the holy place? To speak plainly, greed is the root of all evil...for the sight of these sumptuous and amazing vanities encourages man to give rather than to pray. So riches attract riches, money attracts money...The more the abundance of riches, the more willingly men give."

Hmmmm

Clement of Alexandria says:

"The Lord ate from a common bowl, and asked the disciples to sit on the grass. He washed their feet; with a towel wrapped around His waist - He, who is the Lord of the universe! He drank water from a jug of earthenware, with the Samaritan woman. Christ made use, not extravagance, His aim."

Am I allowing myself to become useLESS due to my use of finances? Or am I willing to buck the system, fight the norm to submit my finances to God and allow use, not extravagance to be the target at which God can aim me?

How about you?

Lose a friend lose God? Part IV

2010-02-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

After a brief break in this topic, I am going to wrap it up with this post.

I firmly believe that when you lose a friend, you don't lose God, but you do lose the piece of that person that reveals God to you.

C.S. Lewis was part of a circle of friends called the Inklings that included J.R.R. Tolkien and another author named Charles Williams that died unexpectedly after World War II. Lewis wrote about the death of Charles Williams in an essay entitled "Friendship".

"In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's [Tolkien's] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald.....In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious 'nearness by resemblance' to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying 'Holy, Holy, Holy' to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have."

That really struck me that he says, in essence, that now that Charles is dead, he has lost a part of Tolkien, the part that laughs at Charles' jokes.

I have lost a friend in my life. It hurts and it's not fun. Strange how it's been over 10 years since I saw this friend but it's still fresh. I guess it's because he didn't pass away, we have just been estranged and that leaves a lack of finality. If a friend passes away, you know that what you have lost won't be recovered in this lifetime. But an estranged friend leaves an unsettled sensation that perhaps what you have lost can be restored in this life.

This old friend and I grew up together and were best friends from age 11 thru 21. A real example of a friend that is closer than a brother. We were all mutual friends growing up so I have lost seeing Charis laugh at me when he calls me "butt munch" or even the way that he would allow me to see deep into his life when we would have talks and share things with one another that we wouldn't tell anyone else. I miss the fear and scrambling we experienced when we were only 15 and stole a mini van from a friend and wrecked it, and I miss the comraderie we built while mowing countless lawns that summer to pay for it.

More than anything, he was a friend during a crucial part of my life and journey in getting to know God. In this sense, when I lost his friendship, I lost my ability to experience God with and through him.

People are put into our lives for a reason. To see that facet of God that can only be seen through that person. And to reveal that facet of God to them that they can only see through us.

In regards to this old friend, I look forward to the day, in this life, that we will be reunited and I will get to see God through him again, and hopefully, show him a glimpse of God through me that he otherwise wouldn't experience.

As for now, I'm grateful for the multitude of good friends in my life now. At Fusion Church, Crossfitfire, work and in my neighbors, that show me a glimpse of God everyday.

Confession: I physically abused my children two nights ago.

2010-01-28T18:26:00.001-08:00

It's true. This is hard for me to admit it, but apparently I have allowed the stress to get to me. We have a lot of things going on in our life right now, moving, work stresses etc. It's no excuse, but I allowed it to cloud my vision and I lost site of my responsibilitis as a father.

I actually choked my 10 year old son Karston until he passed out. Then, Josiah, my 7 year old just kept pushing my buttons and I ended up punching him about 4-5 times until he was in tears. Not my finest moment. It made me feel sick to my stomach.

In fact, it made me feel so sick to my stomach, that even when I woke up I still felt sick about it.

Yeah, it was just a dream. It started out that I was in a fight with this HUGE guy in a park. He wouldn't let me leave the park without fighting him. Now, most of the time when I have a fight dream, the other person is moving in real time while I'm throwing punches through molasses, no speed and it's very frustrating because I know I can whip this guys butt but I'm unable to move at real speed. This time, it was all as it should be. While he outweighed me and had about 6 inches on me, I was wailing on the dude. I was getting off punches and using his weight against him to throw him, I even put a killer arm lock on him that left him only able to fight with one hand.....but he JUST KEPT COMING!

I kept trying to get him to give it up for his own sake but he wouldn't. Finally I had enough and I was able to get behind him and put him in a choke hold until he passed out. Problem was, as soon as he passed out and hit the ground, he turned into my oldest son Karston. Of course everyone there was giving me well deserved grief for choking my son out but I assured them all that he would come back around momentarily, which he did. But as soon as he regained consciousness, he turned into this big ole dude again! So, I'm trying to let him know that for his own sake he needs to bow out but he wouldn't do it. I felt like one of the heroes in a good Louis Lamour western, just wailing on the guy but he just kept coming back for more. So...I unleashed a furious combo of about 5 punches to the temples on either side of his head. At which point, he immediately turned into my sweet sensitive 7 year old Josiah who was standing in front of me not only crying from the pain, but from the obvious hurt and betrayal I had just given him. I then had to sit on the ground and hug him telling him that I loved him and, after all, I had warned him I didn't want to fight him.

WHAT THE HECK????!!!!!!

What kind of dream is that that left me feeling sick to my stomach even after I woke up? I'm the kind of person that always wants to know what a dream means. You know, what's it mean when you have that dream that you are naked in front of your whole class in 8th grade?

Well, after a couple days of reflection, I think this was a reminder from God to not allow my situation and struggles, which seem to outweigh me and have at least 6 inches on me, to affect my family. To be very careful not to mistake my children and their tendencies to disobey and lie and generally act like savage 7 and 10 year olds, as my enemy. Focus my determination and will to fight on those circumstances, and focus every ounce of my energy on bestowing upon my children, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. It's what they deserve.

I'll be a savage and wail on my problems, but I'll be a "velvet covered brick" with my children. Be solid and unmoving on the outside, but soft and tender on the outside. That's a real man.

A fake man is tough looking on the outside, like a brick, but weak and soft on the inside. That's the kind of man that beats his kids up but is too much of a wuss to stand up to a big problem.

By the grace of God, you will never hear me start a real life sentence with "Confession: I physically abused my children two nights ago"

Lose a friend lose God? Part III

2010-01-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

So, I have talked about the importance of friendships in your relationship with God, and have talked about seeing a glimpse of God in the relationships around you.

In this "episode" I want to talk about a passage in Scripture. Matthew 7:3-6 says:

3"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

I always used to view this as a commentary against being judgemental, realizing that it's hypocritical to judge the faults of someone when in reality, you are full of enough of your own faults. While this is very true, I realized something about 10 years ago having to do with the mechanics of how our eyeballs work.

Experiment time.....try this. You can either gaze into someone else's eye, or stare at your own in a mirror.

This is how the human eye works:

The first step in how your eye works is the light from the outside world traveling to your eye.

The light then enters the eye through the pupil and travels to the cornea.

The cornea then focuses the light upon the lens.

The lens further focuses the light on the retina. The image is flipped over and spread across the back of the retina. The retina then carries the light signals to the brain via the optic nerve.

This is the interesting part. If you look into someone else's eye, in good light, you will see what they see, flipped over. When you see into someone's eye, you can see yourself....tiny and upside down.

Let's get back to Jesus' example in Matthew. Let's just assume you literally had a plank in your eye (and hadn't previously noticed the seering pain that comes with a log stuck in your eye) and you were face to face with a friend and you leaned in close to tell them something serious, then noticed what looked like a speck of sawdust in their eye.

That "sawdust" you would be looking at would actually be a tiny, flipped over mirror image of the pine tree protruding from your own eye. Jesus' point was that when you see something in someone that bothers you, realize that it's just a minute reflection of a large problem in your own life.

Our friends, especially when their character flaws get on our nerves, are Jesus' way of communicating to us.

If I'm not involved in close friendships, I won't have the opportunity to see myself and my faults that God wants me to work on. He uses the lamp of their eyes to illuminate the areas of my life He wants to give me the grace to improve.

Yes, if I lose a friend, I lose that communcation from God, through their eyes. If I lose a friend, I lose God.

Stay tuned to see what C.S. Lewis and Lord of The Rings has to say about finding God in our friendships.

Lose a friend lose God? Part II

2010-01-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Broken legs, babies and moving in the winter.

In Genesis 35:11, just after God changed Jacob's name to Israel, God told him that a "community of nations will come from you" Interesting that he used the word "community". I would actually enjoy studying the Hebrew word used here but all my books are packed in boxes. That would probably only serve to give me some head knowledge regarding community but I think I have a practical knowledge of community.

I think that when there is a void of friendship, there is a part of God that is lost. I know that I see God in the community around me.

I know that I see a glimpse of God when I'm working out and a group of people that have invested in me and my well being are encouraging me to "push through the suck" and attain a level of intensity, speed, strength, endurance that I have previously been unable to achieve.

I know that I see God in little things at work. Like in the sharing of pecans and venison sausage.
Or in more important things, like when a co worker and I break through the realm of "shop talk" and share with one another about personal loss, or former dissapointments and failures in life.

I know that I see God when I see our entire church family love on baby Lucy and baby Chloe (and soon to be Ritchie twins) when they are around.

I know that I see God when I see an entire community gather around our friend Hannah when she broke her leg recently. I see God when I see people organize meal delivery and time to just hang out with her while she is immobile because we don't want someone we love to have to be alone during a difficult time. I see God when I know that one of our friends went to see Hannah and offered to wash her hair for her so she could feel refreshed. Yep, you heard me, washed her hair for her. Pretty awesome friendships that are a reflection of God.

I know I see God in my friends who have offered to give up a Saturday of relaxing with their family to come out in the cold and help us move, because they know this is a move that our circumstances chose for us and we would not have chosen to do on our own and they don't want us to have to do it without support.

I know I see God when I see the gang of children at church running around screaming and being free to act like children.

I have no question I see God in the earth shaking, full sprint, body slam hugs that Alyssa, Savannah and Mercy greet one another with when they see each other.

I think I have a pretty clear idea of community. And I know for certain that if I lost these things, these friends, I would definitely feel a sense of losing a part of God.

Stay tuned to see how an irritated eye and CS Lewis and Lord of the Rings all prove that losing friends contributes to a loss of the nature of God.

Lose a friend lose God?

2010-01-15T05:02:00.000-08:00

Friendships have always been important to me. I consider myself a good friend, but, I guess everyone considers themselves a good friend. I think I'm a good friend because Proverbs says that a friend must show himself friendly. I have so many good (quality) friends that, following the logic of this proverb, I must have been given enough of God's grace to be a good friend to them or they wouldn't stick around as my friend.

Recently, in church, our pastor Eric Lerew asked people why they come to church. My response was meant to be somewhat humorous but actually showed a bit of my heart. I said I come to church because without church I wouldn't have friends. It was meant as a bit of self deprecating humour. I do have friends where I workout at Crossfitfire and I do have friends at work as well as old childhood friends I have stayed in touch with (thanks in great part to Facebook). But as I reflected on my answer, I realized that my friendships are very important and do in fact play a very spiritual role in my life.

Several years ago I posted a series of blogs on how disgusted I was with church and Christians. I really was rather irritated and disillusioned with Christianity in it's present state. The real revelation that came to me recently was that this was during a time in my life that I was very disconnected from any real friendships. We didn't have a church family that fostered close friendships, I didn't have a community of like minded people I worked out with, we hadn't discovered the "magic" of Facebook and My Space and at work I was moving from one office to another rather frequently and not establishing meaningful friendships.

This got me thinking and I've come to a few conclusions. I'm going to cut this one short and make this a series so it doesn't become too long and boring, but stay tuned over the next couple days to see how C.S. Lewis, Lord of The Rings, babies, broken legs, moving in the winter and a splinter in the eyeball all play into the importance of friendships in knowing God more.

Final week....gotta be strict

2009-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today

Breakfast - 4 scrambled eggs

Lunch - bunless burger and small bowl of chili

Dinner - steak fajitas without the tortilla. steak, green pepper, avocado and hot sauce

No workout today. Ran home, cooked, took my son to Cub Scout Den meeting came home to eat, now helping my son finish his homework. I hate days like this.

Should make it to the fort tomorrow night, Thurs, night and Friday night. Will have to get a run in on Wednesday night and be sure not to let Saturday become a "challenge is over eat what you want to" but stick with the girl that brought me to the dance.

As of Sat. morning I'm down 30 lbs. since June and 20 lbs. since the beginning of the Better Body Challenge. Pants I haven't worn in quite some time fit now, my suits are way too big and I have to re-learn how to tie my ties becaust there isn't such a fat neck to fit around or such a large bulge to have to compensate for in the midsection.

Good changes. Received more unsolicited compliments from people who haven't seen me for a few months...that's always nice.

The plan for tomorrow is:

Breakfast - eggs and turkey bacon (I know, turkey. my wife bought it)

Lunch - Chicken breasts with avocado

Dinner.....hmmm maybe meatloaf or some ground beef browned in olive oil with veggies, garlic onion, spinach broccoli and mixed nuts

Tuesday thru Thursday

2009-10-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I had 2 eggs and 2 sausage patties for breakfast

for lunch I had a small 6 oz. filet which left me starving in mid afternoon

I was planning to get to the Fort Tuesday evening but received a call from my very sick wife. Had to go the E.R. and it turns out she had bronchial pneumonia. I didn't have dinner until about 11 pm and the fatigue along with the starvation was too much to resist and I had a nasty meal of taco bell.

Wednesday

I was running late to a meeting with my boss and didn't have time to eat breakfast and didn't have time to eat until 1:00. I had a bunless burger and small bowl of chili.

I had a cub scout meeting with my son at 7 pm and only got to eat after that when I had another bunless burger.

Thursday

Much better day. 3 eggs, 2 sausage patties.

A beautiful grass fed t-bone for lunch

Went to the Fort and destroyed my legs:
Broad jumps, Bear crawls, wheelbarrow, crab crawl
Overhead squats: 3-3-3-1-1-1- 30k, 40k, 40k, 50k, 55k, 55k
Scaled WOD 3 gym lengths of lunge steps, 15, pull ups, 15 sit ups
lunge steps 9 pull ups, 9 sit ups
lunge steps 6 pull ups 6 sit ups
lunge steps 3 pull ups 3 sit ups

Finished in 10:37. Time to progress beyond the black band and onto the green band for the pull-ups.

Dinner I had a half pound of grass feed ground beef sauteed in olive oil with broccoli, sage, spinach and a handful of mixed nuts. Mmm Mmmm good!

As of yesterday morning I'm at 29 lbs. lost since June and 19 lbs. lost since beginning Cross Fit in October.

10/19

2009-10-19T20:05:00.001-07:00

Had smoked sausage and eggs for breakfast

jalapeno burger minus the bun for lunch

all grass fed beef meatloaf for dinner

2.25 mile run

10/18 addendum

2009-10-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, just had my wife take some "almost after pictures" two weeks early. Got to admit, I can see some difference but not as much as I would like. I thought 28 lbs. would have looked a bit more dramatice. Guess I gotta REALLY buckle down these last two weeks.

10/18 update

2009-10-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had 2 eggs and 2 sausage patties for my early morning birthday tradition with my son who just turned 10.

lunch I had a hamburger without the bun and a small bowl of chili

dinner I had chili and 4 small sausage meatballs.

I've found myself cheating on the nutrition here and there and need to curb that. I has some sour cream onion chips and a coke last night also.

Today I had my Sunday morning "date" with my 7 year old son and had a sausage omelet and totally laid off the hashbrowns and toast, but I did have a bite of his waffle.

I ended up not having lunch cause we were so busy getting ready for and then having Karston's birthday/costume party. I only had 3 bites of cake and one handful of doritos. Oh, and about 4 oreos.

Yeah, see what I mean about cheating a little bit?

I then had a bowl of chili around 3:00 made with no beans or corn but with ground beef, smoked sausage and sirloin. Oh, yeah, and a beer.

Will probably have another bowl of chili during the game tonight.

Because of the cheating I was self-motivated to get a workout in so I did 2 rounds of

800m run (slow jog if I'm being honest)
35 air squats

Totally forgot to set my stopwatch.

Will weigh in the morning but I'm not hopeful as I cheated a bit this weekend. I'm planning to get really strict again and go all out these last two weeks of the challenge.

10/16 body challenge update

2009-10-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm down 28 lbs. and had another unsolicited compliment from a co worker today, those are always nice. The bummer is I've only been able to make it to the fort once this week due to work schedule.

I made it for about 10 min. yesterday to pick up my grass feed beef before rushing off to a cub scout meeting. I'm hoping to lose another 2-3 lbs. by the time I weigh in on Monday. I'm also gonna have to look at the website Bill gave me for some Crossfit homework to get some WOD ideas to do at home on the evenings that I can't make it in.

Food:

Yesterday: Breakfast - 2 scrambled eggs and 2 sausage patties
Lunch - a small 6 oz. bacon wrapped filet mignon
Dinner (totally overate due to the stress of the long hours and a small lunch combined with a hectic schedule) Had meatloaf, salad, cole slaw (probably high sugar count) and 5 Buffalo Wings and fell into the old habit of finishing the kids food so I had a few of my son's bbq rib tips. The only victory is that I left the french fries and soup alone.

Today: Breakfast - 2 eggs and 2 sausage patties
Lunch - not sure, probably a bunless burger
Dinner - chicken breast baked in a tomato sauce with some steamed veggies

BTW Bill and Jennie, my sis-in-law in Florida is interested in learning more about crossfit so when she is up between xmas and new year she may come hang out on a Saturday.

Sept 24, 2006

2009-10-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

Sunday, September 24, 2006
What are you doing God?
So, we have begun attending a church here in the area that I have known about for some time and always liked their style of ministry. I've been working outside of the church for three years now and have felt that that is just where God has had us for a variety of reasons which have been noted in previous blogs. Now, I'm in a position at work as Financial Advisor which I really enjoy and had to go through extensive work to pass state exams to become qualified for. I'm in a position to make some good money going forward and get my family in a place without debt and actually save some money for the future. Now God begins stirring something in me that makes me think He might be calling us back into the ministry at some time.
This church wants me to take some leadership roles and we have been asked by three staff members to submit my resume. When I started this job, my prayer was that I not get to a place where I was so comortable financially that I would be scared to re-enter the "ministry". Well, we're definitely not comfortable, we're a little behind on the mortgage, can't afford a car I need and my house in Alabama hasn't sold and the tenant is now gone so I have double mortgage to pay. But, it's on the horizon. As soon as the house sells I can pay off debt and with a couple of paychecks be on top for the first time in our lives. Now, I'm the first to say that money isn't everything, but I also believe God wants to bless His people financially, not so we can get more stuff but so we can be more effective blessing other people.
If he calls me back into the ministry am I going to always be behind financially? Last night at church the message was regarding the deceptiveness of wealth. Again, not that money is bad, but we always think if we have enough our lives will be satisfied and that's never the case. Bill Gates, who has earned 50 BILLION dollars began giving it all away in 1998 because he said it wouldn't be good for his kids to inherit it. The only thing that satisfies is being in the center of His will in your life and feeling Him smile at you.
Charis and I were talking about this, and she made the comment that if the salary of being on staff would be equivalent to what my pay is now, that it's a no brainer, we would be in the ministry. But that would be an easy decision and one thing I know about God is that He likes to form character in my life by giving me difficult decisions. So, would I be willing to step back into the ministry if it would be a drastic pay cut. What if I can't imagine how the bills would be paid? We own a house now and the cost of living up here is pretty drastic. What if it doesn't work on paper and God asks us to do it. Is our faith strong enough to obey?
Maybe God will let us sell our house, pay off all our debt and receive a high paying ministry position. Maybe we've learned a long painful lesson regarding the purpose of finances and he can trust us with that. Maybe I get paid well to have my dream ministry position of travelling to be a missionary to missionaries and helping people in the local church find their true ministry passion. But what if that time isn't here? Pray that I can hear Him clearly and respond to Him appropriately.
I don't feel like now is the time to make a change, but I definitely feel God asking me to examine my heart and determine if I can trust Him if He did make that call.

September 17, 2006

2009-10-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 17, 2006
He says it quite well
This is a response to my blog from a member of one of my groups. While I don't promote and governmental commentary, he does make a few good points.

You're confusing those who claim to be Christians with genuine Christians. The people in the U.S. who make the biggest noise about being Christians, and all their Christian values and so on are some of the least Christian people I've ever met. I've only been a Christian for a few years, having been agnostic most of my 50 years. I'd look at the people around me who called themselves "Christians", and think, "what in the world would I want to be like that for?" But Christ does not call us to be like that people who loudly proclaim themselves to be Christians, he calls us to be like him. The Religious Right, who call themselves Christians, bear no resemblance to Christ that I can see, therefore I don't see how we can call them Christians.Not that I'm that great a Christian, either. Being like Christ is a pretty hard thing to do, and none of us do a very good job of it....

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. - Mohandas GandhiThe problem with Christianity is not that it has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult, and left untried. - G.K. ChestertonChristendom has done away with Christianity without being quite aware of it. - Soren Kierkegaard*** I'm not a Christian but desire to love God and ALL people with every fiber of my being. ***That sounds pretty Christian to me.Jim

Old blog from Sept 03, 2006--Christian hater

2009-10-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

So, there are some blogs that I posted a few years ago that I wanted to paste into my current blog in order to have a good record of thoughts I had and things I went through. This particular blog was very much posted in a time when I was really tired of the behavior of most American Christians.

The process God took me through was interesting. First, he was patient with me and let me have my bad attitude. He then gently steared me back to the understanding that everything I saw in "those Christians" were the very things about me that God was sickened by.

I'm also going to post the comments that were given back when I first posted this blog. There was some good dialog from many of my friends.

Sunday, September 03, 2006
Am I a Christian?
I realize that I used to be a really good Christian...was really good at being judgemental, thinking I had to be sure that everyone around me followed the rules that I believed were the way a Christian should act. Couldn't accept anyone that didn't "look" or "talk" like a Christian. I've come to realize that I don't really like Christians very much. That's not a real fair thing to say..it's not that I don't like them, I just have a hard time stomaching them. Christianity has become such a religion, a subculture, a weird civilization that is so concerned with not being "tainted" by the world that it has forgotten that it is called to love the world. When people ask me if I am a Christian, I have to tell them no. That I am really in love with God, but not so keen about his people. One of the Great Commandments is that we not take the Lord's name in vain. What that means is that we not misrepresent God's character, and we have all done a pretty good job of misrepresentation. I love God and want to look more like him, and I think I have looked more like him when I'm sitting in a bar with a group of friends playing basketball and we end up talking about God, or about how I'm in love with my wife and have no desire to cheat on her. I think I look more like him when people say "wow, when I'm around you I don't feel uncomfortable, like I have to quit cussing or pray before my meals." They wouldn't feel uncomfortable around Jesus would they? He is the ultimate in loving people and accepting them BEFORE they change. Remember Nicodemus? Jesus said "hey lets hang out" THEN Nicodemus decided to change the way he acted and looked. I don't know, it's a bit of a soap box I guess, I just think Christians have done a superb job of making Jesus look undesirable. I'm not a Christian, but I love God with all of my heart. Isn't that one of only two things he's asked us to do? Love me with all your heart soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself? Christians are some of the most un-neighborly people I know. It's kind of like looking at a married couple where the husband is the perfect husband. Loves his wife, goes out of his way for her, always puts her first, sacrifices his life to make hers the best it can possibly be. And the wife disregards it, ignores him, takes his love for granted and gives the impression that he mistreats her. I love God an awful lot, but his bride disgusts me and I hope she can learn to appreciate the good man she has. It's like Mick says to Rocky in Rocky III, "But then the worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter, you got civilized" The church has become so concerned with being accepted that it has become civilized and because of it, has become rejected. So... I'm not a Christian but desire to love God and ALL people with every fiber of my being.

Oct 4th

2009-10-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well....this was my 34th birthday weekend and therefore the first time I've cheated on my nutrition since starting this challenge.

Saturday, my birthday, I had 2 sausage patties and 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast.

I then had to work until about 1:30 but then had some yummy grilled chicken for lunch.

I then met up with friends and family at Joe's Crab Shack in Gurnee. My dinner was actually not a problem, I had broiled tilapia, shrimp and crab meat. I did sneak one of my wife's hushpuppies though.

I wasn't planning to have dessert, but my mother had a huge surprise for me. See, when I was in college I would occassionally work for a family friend who was a wedding planner/caterer. I always loved the chocolate on chocolate cake she would make for the groom's cake. So, at our wedding I of course requested this cake. In the busyness of our reception, I didn't get any of the cake and my sister in law took the leftovers home with her so I never got any and have jokingly whined and complained about it for 13 years now. Well...my mother looked up this old family friend on facebook. She still lives in Birmingham. My mother got the recipe sent to her and made for me the chocolate on chocolate grooms cake for my birthday. So, you see, I just had to have some.

I only had one piece and we ended up giving the leftovers to our wait staff because we all knew if we took it home we would eat it.

So, that was my Saturday cheat.

Sunday:

I took my oldest son to breakfast for some one on one time and had a sausage omelet that of course had cheese in it.

Then, at church I took one bite of birthday cake, but for dinner I had a quesadilla complete with flour fajita.

So, back on the wagon for me. Will weigh tomorrow and see how the progress is coming.

I will say, I am beginning to get compliments from a lot of people so that's rewarding.

Thanks to the crossforters for being supportive and pushing me to finish the WOD's when I'm perfectly content to quit. :-)

Sept. 30

2009-09-30T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, yesterday was eggs with corned beef hash. Can't do that again, the hash has potatos in it so the leftover can went to the dogs.

Lunch was a small cob salad that didn't hold me over until I got home so I grabbed a couple beef skewers at Dominicks on the way home.

Dinner: Culvers where I had a Bunless Burger and 1 french fry. Should have resisted the one fry on principal alone but alas...it was good.

Today

Breakfast: 3 strips bacon and 2 scrambled eggs

Lunch: Delish steak I grilled this morning before leaving for work

Dinner: Steak/bacon chili been cooking in the crockpot all day....looking forward to that one.

Monday I worked out at the Fort and we did Isabel. I finished the fastest but I can't claim to have had the heaviest weight, nor the prescribed weight. Rob the Bruce did it with 50k and I finished with 40k.

Tuesday I went for another run on my "couch to 5k" program. This consisted of a 5 min. warm up walk, some stretches then a 5 min. run/3 min. walk/8 min. run/3 min. walk/5 min. run.

All in, according to walkjogrun.net I covered 2.31 miles.

Today is a rest day as I am working late. Will be at the Fort on Thursday and Friday at the 5:00 class.

Sept. 28th

2009-09-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Ok...not sure how it happened but the scale says I dropped a few more pounds. I am apparently at 25 lbs. lost since early June which would put it at roughly 15 lbs. lost since beginning the 60 day body challenge.

My clothes are fitting looser, I've run out of notches on my belt but I'm waiting to tailor my clothes as I intend to lose a good bit more. I've had a few comments from co-workers and clients alike that I look like I've lost weight so that's always rewarding.

Going to my first "non ramp up" crossfit tonight...hope I don't die.

Diet.

Yesterday:

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and orange juice

Lunch: 6 oz. filet mignon

Dinner: meatballs with tomato sauce and salad. (It was another temptation conquered as it was "Italian dinner night" at church. I was able to resist although I did notice another crossfitter eat some cake ahem ahem....not naming names.

Today:

Breakfast: 3 slices bacon and 2 scrambled eggs with orange juice

Lunch: roasted pork tenderloin

Dinner: will be baked pork chops in tomato sauce and sauteed veggies (wow, that's a lot of pig in one day....I imagine I should tone that one down a bit?)

I brought grapes and mixed nuts for a snack although I've really not been hungry between meals. Will probably eat some nuts on the way to crossfit.

Next blog I'll share a little about my experience in Canada.

Sept 26th

2009-09-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

My apologies to all my facebook friends. This blog automatically posts there and I'm not sure how to select which ones should import and which ones shouldn't.

On my 60 day Body Challenge I think I'm doing relatively well other than a lack of workouts last week due to work schedule. I've lost 11 lbs. since beginning. The question I have (you crossfitters can help with this) , I have a handle on the allowable foods (at least I think I do), I just am not sure how much I should be eating. I'm going to explore DAILYPLATE.COM tonight and I think it will tell me calorie intake as well as nutritional values in my foods I'm eating. But I don't know how many calories I should be taking in nor do I know the nutritional guidelines...i.e. grams of protein, carbs, fiber etc. What's a good rule of thumb?

Today was:

Breakfast: a few pieces of smoked sausage and two scrambled eggs with orange juice (not from concentrate)

Lunch: Bacon burger without the bun and a small caesar salad

Dinner: (skipped the free pizza my sis in law bought as a thank you for helping her move) and went home and had about 10 oz. of smoked sausage with sauteed yellow bell pepper.

Hope I'm on track?!

I DID IT!!!

2009-09-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, I'm 21 lbs. lost now so I can give myself that new tattoo. I'll wait until I'm in Alabama in November so I can get the same guy to do it that did my first. Just have to keep it off until then but I believe that won't be a problem as I'm intending to continue getting in shape.

I've done surprisingly well at switching my diet to the "paleo diet" Basically, no grains, no sugar, no dairy, no legumes and no soy. That means I can have meat, vegetables, and some fruit as well as nuts. I like all of that and it gives me a good excuse to grab a steak for lunch. In the last two weeks, the only time I've really ever deviated was one night I had a meatball sandwich and last night I had two soft tacos. Otherwise I've been able to stay on track.

I have only been to crossfit once since I got back from Canada. I've finished my ramp up. I have set aside the money to pay for October at crossfit, I just had a really busy week at work after being on vacation, so the plan is to get at least three days a week at crossfit. My goal is, on the days I'm not at crossfit, to continue my "couch to 5k" training.

Today's workout for couch to 5k was to run for 20 minutes without walking. Gotta be honest, when I saw this workout a few weeks ago, I thought...."aint gonna happen". But guess what. I ran for 20 minutes without stopping to rest today. Pretty proud of myself. walkjogrun.net tells me that I ran 1.75 miles so I know that all you runners out there could smoke my time, but finishing without dying was an accomplishment.

Hopefully, after halloween, I can post my after pics and redeem myself for making your eyeballs bleed when you looked at the before pictures a few posts ago.

Last week in Canada--more weight loss

2009-09-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Went to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada all last week. Left Chicago Friday evening and were in the park by noon Saturday. We figured to have covered 60-70 miles over the week. Ok, crossfitters.....I think I got my rowing in this week as we were in the canoes from 9 am until about 4 pm every day. When we weren't rowing in the canoes we were hiking with our heavy packs and a canoe on our shoulders up and down the trails through very rough terrain.

The only unfortunate thing is that I couldn't control diet and there were a lot of grains on the trip. Once we left civilization I spent the next day and a half easing back into Paleo diet but am full swing in again.

I lost 4.6 lbs. on the trip and am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things at crossfit.

Pics to follow once I get my computer to cooperate.

Remove all children from the room!

2009-09-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Ok...so they are in...the pics are here. My before pics for the 60 day Body Challenge I'm doing. I'm posting the picture late in the post so innocent children don't accidentally see the nightmare.

First...update. Today was eggs and sausage for breakfast and steak and broccoli for lunch. No dinner yet. Leaving in about 20 minutes to go meet the rest of the guys for our trip to Canada. Going hiking and canoeing in the Algonquin Provincial Park near Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. Looking forward to it, will be gone until late next Saturday. I won't be "officially" working out this week but certainly hope that canoeing will replace Crossfit rowing and long hikes with a backpack and canoe will suffice for box jumps dead lifts and squats. We shall see, my goal is to lose 5 lbs. this week. Not sure what we will be eating daily but I'm packing beef jerky and mixed nuts for my daily snacks. If I lose 5 lbs. this week I will be 1 lb. away from my tattoo weight. I gave myself the incentive back in June that if I lose 20 lbs. I will justify the expense of a new tattoo. In the pic you will see on my left shoulder my tattoo of the Goodson family crest. What I would like to do is just beneath that, create a band with all three of my children's handprints.

Anyway...that's the scoop. Are you ready? Brace yourself.....remove the children

In fact, you may want to cover your eyes and peak between your fingers....I promise, it'll be like a train wreck...you'll look away and then make a weird face and look at the pic again.

No blog updates this week from the wilderness, but beginning again on the 21st....check in for regular progress and check in on me and cheer me on.

another day

2009-09-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

I'm finding that eating right really requires planning ahead.

I had my 2 eggs and 2 sausage patties for breakfast

smoked grilled sausage, baked chicken leg, grilled chicken breast, baked fish filet and green beans for lunch (wow...looks like a lot when you write it down huh?)

dinner, didn't plan ahead and ran out of time with packing for the Canada trip so I had 2 burritos and a soft taco from taco bell.

Hmmmm.....that doesn't look so great huh. No workout today either as I've been packing for the trip. Will be hiking and canoeing all week so my goal is to lose 5 lbs. this week. Am packing beef jerky and mixed nuts for snacking during the day on the trip.

Weigh Down

2009-09-10T05:30:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I think I stayed on track pretty well.

Breakfast--sausage and eggs
snack--grapes
lunch--small filet and spinach salad
snack--nuts/seeds
dinner--2 hamburger patties

At crossfit we worked on technique for pull-ups and handstand push-ups. Then we did 500m rowing warm up followed by three sets of:

200m run
12 kettle bell swings
6 body rows

Today on the scale I am down to 253 lbs. Grand total of 14 lbs. Only need 6 more before I can get that new tattoo!

balance

2009-09-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Balance is hard for me...it's hard to balance everything. Family time, quality family time that is. Work, exercise, diet.

Today is a non-workout day for me. My ramp up session is tomorrow but I didn't really have time to run today. I worked until 6:00, came home and had dinner with the family around the table for some nice face to face time, now putting the kids in bed and it's already 8:30.

Then I'm gonna snuggle on the couch with Reese for a little bit of quality time with my wife. I'm not willing to give up family time, I can't afford to give up work time, so exercise time gets pushed to the side. I should have gone for a twenty minute run today for the last of my week 5 "couch to 5k" workouts but it aint gonna happen.

I also need to learn balance in my diet. Not sure if I'm eating too much or not enough. Any fellow crossfitters wanna fill me in?

I had two fried eggs and two small sausage patties for breakfast.

12 grapes for a snack

6 oz. filet mignon and a spinach salad for lunch

1/4 sandwich size ziploc of mixed nuts/seeds for a snack

(broke down and got a taco bell beef burrito cause I was hungry)

then for dinner had about 4-6 oz. roasted pork tenderloin and about 2 cups broccoli.

My only breakdown came late afternoon on the way home and I was hungry and couldn't seem to will myself to wait until I got home and grabbed a burrito.

I need enough protein to fuel the body change, but not too much to make it slow going, and not too little to make me prone to eat too much of the wrong things.

Guess I'll keep on working and spending time with my family, keep hitting crossfit at least 3 times a week and try to get in as many runs as I can while I keep tweaking the eating.

Post Labor Day

2009-09-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ok...first potential roadblock on my body transformation journey has come and gone. Labor Day and at least three parties that I can remember.

It all began with our 10th annual Harding Street block party. I was able to avoid grains completely eating my brat and burger without the bun and enjoying the spinach strawberry salad that I took. I did consume a bit of wheat with the few beers I had and I couldn't avoid sugar altogether as I had two brownies.

Sunday morning we had a breakfast party at our house which had plenty of protein only but I did give in and have some breakfast pie. Great eggs and sausage, but with cheese in a pie crust as well and I must admit I had a half of the cinnamon apple french toast that I made for the party.

Fast Forward to my parents house last evening and I did quite well avoiding the grains, didn't have any. Probably had too much protein though as I had a small pork chop, a burger patty and hot dog all bunless. Oops...I did have some corn on the cob, but only 1/4 of the cob and I did give in and have some peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

I forgot to weigh before breakfast, but after breakfast the scale says I gained 1.1 lbs. Back on track, had egg and sausage for breakfast and have already grilled my filet for lunch along with my spinach salad and packed nuts and grapes for snacks during the day. Charis will be roasting a pork tenderloin with veggies for dinner. I'm working late so probably won't get in a workout but back to Crossfit tomorrow.

New adventure

2009-09-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

So...any of you that read my "Manhood Plan" knows that I'm interested in making lasting changes in my life. That plan outlined ways that I want to be the father and husband I'm intended by God to be. It included spiritual, emotional, discipline, financial.....and physical. See, I want to be around for my great grandchildren. And, I would like to be active and able to have fun with them, maybe even still be able to play with them. One of the goals I have is...

-I will continue striving to maintain healthy diet and proper exercise in order to maintain my health and longevity allowing me to serve my family into my great grandchildren's generation.

Well...half-hearted attempts have been made to this end. I've eaten "ok" sporadically but not with any continuity. Recently I decided to follow the couch to 5k training program. Just today I completed run two of week 5 which consisted of an 8 minute run, 5 minute cool off walk followed by another 8 minute run. I was able to do this in a rather hilly (by hilly I mean uphill...both ways) and completed 1.65 miles. My next run is supposed to be 20 minutes running with no walking. Ouch...we'll see how that goes.

But, more importantly, I have recently been subjecting myself to a strangely satisfying torure called crossfit fire. I must get in shape and stay that way.

Before I joined crossfit I set a goal to lose 20 lbs. with the reward of a new tattoo. I lost 10 lbs. pretty quickly then hit a wall with my own efforts. I started at 267 lbs. and dropped to 257 over a month or more. I have been through one week of Cross Fit and dropped another 2 lbs. to leave me sitting at 255 lbs.

I have joined the cross fit Better Body Challenge. As soon as I'm able too I'll download my "before" picture so you can all get a good giggle. I'll be posting my progress along the way so you can keep up with it and send me some encouragement every now and then.

Nashty smells made good

2009-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

I was reading Romans last week and in the first chapter there is a list of all the awful things people were doing. It's a long list

I have often looked at this from an "inside looking out" viewpoint. I'm on the inside looking at all the awful things Godless people do. As God often does...he changed my viewpoint. See, the text says...

"FOR ALTHOUGH THEY KNEW GOD, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened..." It then goes on to list all of the awful things people were doing.

It's still a long list.

What struck me is that these were people who KNEW GOD. They knew him...they just failed to glorify him and failed to give him thanks. And the lack of these two actions/attitudes led them to a place of futile thinking and darkened hearts. The long list of atrocities are things that I don't want to have anything to do with...but they are as close to me as my failure to glorify and give thanks.

The irony here is that these things lead to death...but the only way to avoid them is to die.

Assuming that the failure is the lack of glorifying and thanking, the question is how do we glorify and give thanks? Thanks giving is fairly understandable...but how do we bring glorifying God into our everyday life?

It actually has a lot to do with death.

My good friend Alex preached tonight from John 11 and the death of Lazarus. He pointed out that after Jesus was informed that Lazarus was sick...he stayed where he was for two more days allowing Lazarus to die. Alex talked about the disappointment that was evident in Martha and Mary's reaction when they saw Jesus. They both in frustration and anguish said "If you had been here my brother would not have died"

Alex pointed out that we all have had deep disappointments in God when he didn't show up in a situation when we wanted him to. He asked for specific examples among the congregation. We heard things like I prayed for my marriage to be restored and it wasn't....My mother has battled sickness for 13 years....My nephew died after 42 days of life....my friends haven't come to know Christ. Why doesn't he show up sometimes?

Could it be that he wants us to die? It certainly appears so. He told the disciples that this situation was "for God's glory so that God's son may be glorified through it." Aren't we told that if we are to share in Christ's glory we must also share in his suffering? Aren't we told that to live is Christ and to die is gain?

Lazarus died so Jesus could bring him back to life...thus being glorified.

We need to glorify God to avoid the darkening of our hearts which leads to atrocities in our life.

We need to die to glorify God.

We must die daily.

I feel like the last year and a half for my family has been deadly. Many of our plans died. Much of our stuff died. Our pride definitely died. We have been through a dying process.

But I have decided that if this death serves to glorify God...and keep me close to his heart so my own isn't darkened...then I can stand to stay in the grave for four days before he calls me out.

I bet Lazarus was glad that even though he was in the grave, perhaps in purgatory for four days, rotting and decaying and smelling horrible....he was probably forever grateful that his circumstance brought glory to God and that his NASHTY SMELLS WERE MADE GOOD.

How Michael Jackson inspired me to talk to God

2009-06-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I suppose everyone is reacting to the death of Michael Jackson in different ways. Some are saddened, some are irreverant in their jokes, others are upset that his death upstaged Farah Fawcett's passing, others aren't affected in any way whatsoever.

I must admit, while I respect his musical genius and incredible dance moves that I desparately wanted to imitate as a kid, (I secretly believe I never mastered the moonwalk because my family couldn't afford the smokin' awesome red parachute pants) I have been in the latter group. The one that is largely unaffected. Until this morning that is.

See, the last couple of days I've been dealing with a frustration at work. There are two areas that I'm responsible for. One of those areas is excelling, beating expectations. The other area is struggling. So much so that my boss has been having some serious conversations with me about how to fix it SOON or there could be consequences. Now when it's all said and done..the "consequences" aren't that grave, they would probably serve to benefit me, but it's a frustration that things aren't going as I would like them to.

I had to admit to my boss that I have probably taken the stance that I often take in my personal life. That is, to not spend a lot of effort getting better at weaknesses, but focus my energy on my strengths as that is where I will find success. The glaringly obvious problem with this is that we never improve our weaknesses.

Well, back to Michael Jackson. As was to be expected radio stations were filling the airwaves with his tunes. The one that struck me was his hit song, "Man In The Mirror" Some of the lyrics include:

I've been the victim of a selfish kind of love

That's why I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm askin him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change

See, this struck me so much that I turned off the radio and began to talk to God. I had been trying to figure out how to motivate the people around me to get better at the areas at work I'm responsible for. God reminded me of a book a family friend, Tom Mullins, wrote. The book is called The King's Heart and is based on the verse in Proverbs 21:1 which says "the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord" and God uses these King's, authority figures, to guide us in his favor. He challenges the reader to take cues from our earthly authority figures to better understand how our relationship with The King is doing.

When Michael Jackson told me to look at the man in the mirror I realized that my troubles at work are a reflection of an area in my life that is displeasing to God. When I asked Him to show me, He showed me that I'm not placing proper emphasis on spending time with Him and in His Word. And that as a result, I'm categorizing my life. There is work, there is family and there is spiritual. He wants me to merge all of these together and give my all at work and with my family as a way to honor him.

I was in a meeting where the Hall of Fame and all time Chicago Bears leading tackler, Mike Singletary, was speaking. He was also encouraging the men in the room to step it up and be the men we are called to be in our heart, our family and our workplace.

I have always said that when we work, we aren't working for our boss or our company but for God. When we have this mentality, we will do our best to honor him. At least we should do our best. I realized today as I looked at the man in the rearview mirror that I have been guilty of not working for God. I have been looking around me at my difficulties rather than working hard. My job has an unlimited upside potential for income. I'm not hindered by a salary, I can make as much money as I am able to make. I haven't been excelling which means I've only been working for me, to pay my bills and put a little in savings for a rainy day. I'm not working for those reasons. The long term goal of my career is to have my family taken care of in a way that I can respond to ANYTHING God wants me to do without financial reasons holding me back. But, I haven't been working with the kind of fervor necessary to do this.

So...long story short, God is the ultimate glass cleaner that makes the mirror crystal clear so we can truly see the Man In The Mirror if we dare to take The King of Pop's advice and allow the King of Kings to show us what He wants us to deal with.

Do you dare look in the mirror?

Ponderings on the Church and the Rock it was built upon

2009-06-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

When Peter made his declaration that He belived Jesus was the Son of God...Jesus named him Peter (rock) and said "on this rock I will build my church"

Why Peter?

Dude did stupid stuff all the time. Said the wrong things, tried to stop Jesus from his destiny, messed up so bad on one occassion that Jesus called him Satan. Tried to kill a Roman Soldier....even messed that up and only cut his ear off. Denied Jesus three times the evening he was arrested. Messed up the walking on water thing. He is well known for always putting his foot in his mouth. Why would Jesus choose him?

Tonight at fusion church my friend Mark preached on the miracle of Jesus walking on water. He made a great point about that miracle. You see...I never really saw the point of that miracle...but Jesus never did, and never does, anything randomly or without purpose. Mark pointed out that Jesus sent the disciples on ahead of him and told him he would meet them in the town across the lake. Then in the middle of the lake, a huge storm came up...to the point that all 12 of the men in the boat were terrified and were sure they were going to sink. Add to this...they see a figure coming towards them walking on top of the water and they all thought it was a ghost.

You see...in the ancient world....water, specifically large bodies of it...created great fear among people. It was the great unknown...there were no scientific expedition submarines to explore the mysteries of the deep. They were a mystery...and a terrifying one at that. Tales of great sea monsters...like the leviathin in the book of Job were enough to keep even the bravest fisherman close to shore.

The interesting thing is...the point of the miracle...was to show these guys that Jesus had total dominion and authority over their greatest fears. That compared to Him...their fears were a literal walk in the park (or the pond as the case may be) He showed up literally walking on top of their fears.

Then, Peter says, "if it's really you, tell me to come join you"

Side note...I don't think Peter was very smart. I mean...if Jesus HAD been a flesh eating beast from the depths trying to trick them...and Peter said that...wouldn't the beast have just said "uh, Peter, get out of the boat"..I don't know..doesn't seem like the greatest truth gathering strategy to me.

Anyway...Jesus says get out of the boat.....and I'll be danged if Peter didn't do it. Got out of the boat to get into the thing that he was most scared of!!! I think that is why Jesus wanted to build his church on that rock. Cause it takes ACTION!!! Perhaps as a modern church...we should look back and take a lesson from Peter. Jesus wants action...doesn't want us sitting in the boat scared of what' s gonna happen...He wants us to get out there with him. I can relate to Peter....he was the only one of the 12 that was inspired to step it up and pursue greatness. But...just the way I do....He panicked and couldn't sustain.

Sure is encouraging that Jesus still wanted to establish His church on this rock.

The great ending to the story is that after Jesus' crucifixion...Peter and the disciples went back to what they knew....fishing. When Jesus rose from the tomb he went out to the shore. From the boat Peter immediately recognized Jesus (didn't need reassurance this time) and that sucker jumped off the boat just like Forest Gump when he saw Lieutenant Dan on the pier. He knew he could walk on water if he kept his eyes on Jesus.

Problem was he didn't walk on water. He sank.

He had the same inspired leap of faith....then he encountered the same "failure" as before. Only this time he didn't get back in the boat....he just swam to Jesus. He realized it didn't matter what his approach looked like, as long as he was moving towards Jesus. Maybe we need to swim thru resistance and perceived failure and remember that our goal is to move towards Jesus at all costs.

Sounds like the actions of a rock worth building a church on.

Joshua Q's with no real A's

2009-04-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Just a few rapid fire questions from Chapter Two of the Book of Joshua. Random thoughts, let me know what you think the answers are for my questions and wonderings.

-Why did Joshua "secretly" send the spies. I mean...the very nature of a spy is secrecy, so why did he have to secretly send the spies who are suppossed to be secret anyhow? Who was he keeping the secret from? Was there spies amongst the Israelites? Just seems redundant....secretly sending spies.

-Verse 2 = maybe this is why he was trying to keep it a secret....turns out the spies weren't very good at secrecy

- Why had the prostitute already hidden the spies when the authorities came to the door? What made her feel compelled to hide them before the perception of danger?

- Verse 10 and 11 says they had heard of what God had done and they were in fear....this one will make sense in a moment

- Verse 12....She wanted a sure sign that she would be spared. Think the demand of a contract was just the nature of her business?

- Verse 14....If God had already promised to give them the land...what was the purpose of all the secrecy in the first place?

- Does the scarlet chord tied on the window seem slightly reminiscent of another moment folks were spared by something red on their door frame?

- Verse 22...Maybe it's because Easter is still so fresh on my mind...but do you think there is any significance to the fact that the spied hid for 3 nights in the woods before returning to their home?

- Verse 24...Remember verse 10 and 11? The people were scared because they had heard what God had done....why are they now taking credit?

What do you think...Got any answers to my random questions?

Oh The Plans of Men and Their Feet

2009-04-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ever have really good ideas but don't run with them? Ever have really bad ideas and run too far with them? I think that LeBron James was absolutely accurate when on 60 minutes he said "You can't be afraid to fail, you have to take the next shot"

I also believe that often we spend too much time and energy trying to make something successful that was never meant to be succesful.

Joshua 1:3 is an oft quoted text. "I will give you every place where you set your foot" Sounds inspiring...gives us courage and a backbone to step out in faith and conquer the enemy....throw a rock at goliath, march around a city, face the giants etc.

Ever get that courage...step out...and get your butt handed to you and run back to God and holler "BUT YOU SAID YOU WOULD GIVE ME EVERY PLACE WHERE I SET MY FOOT!!"

Hmm....contextual reading sure is important. Verse 1-2 actually tell Josuah where to go...and verse 4 actually spells out the boundaries. "from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river Euphrates, to the Great Sea on the West" God actually said....here is where you are to put your feet....and by the way...I will give you every place where you set your feet.

Our problem is, we often fail to listen to the guidelines, the instructions on where to place our feet. We run off, stomp the ground...do a magic dance, click our heels together and instruct those around us that it's gonna work cause it's where we planted our feet. Meanwhile...God is looking for someone who can hear his voice and understand where He wants you to plant your feet so he can give it to you.

We gotta slow down and listen sometimes and maybe failure won't be such a frequent visitor.

Whatcha think?

A shooting in first grade!!!! Really???

2009-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

So, my 1st grader was assigned to do a project that involved heroes, celebration, flag and landmarks. So my wife (oops, I mean Josiah) did a great shadow box with a firework celebration, the statue of liberty and a group of American soldiers guarding an American Flag (from a pirate no less...only because we dont have a toy plastic Bin Laden).

Well....here's where the fun begins. Josiah came home with his toy soldiers in
a ziploc bag.

So...I called the teacher to inquire....because inquiring minds want to know. What follows is a transcript of the conversation, complete with my unspoken thoughts in italics.

ME: "This is Josiah's father. His toy soldiers came home in a ziploc bag today, I was just wondering if there were any problems?"

TEACHER: "Yeah...by the way, Josiah did a great job on his project"

MY BRAIN: kudos honey, you did a great job on that 1st grade project

TEACHER: "he displayed it to the whole class and I was very proud of him"

MY SARCASTIC BRAIN: okay lady, cut the crap and let's get to the ridiculous answer I know is coming

TEACHER: "We sent the soldiers home because...well, they have guns"

VERY SARCASTIC BRAIN: REALLY?! THE SOLDIERS DEFENDING OUR FREEDOM ACTUALLY HAD GUNS!!!! OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE SUCH A COLOSSAL MISTAKE TO SEND SOMETHING TRUTHFUL TO SCHOOL!! Really?? that's a national security issue that the 1/2 inch plastic soldiers are carrying 1 cm, plastic, bent guns? I should have made sure to break the guns off and send them to school carrying snowballs CAUSE THAT'S HOW OUR SOLDIERS DEFENDED THE FLAG AT IWO FREAKIN JIMA!!!

ME: "Well, they are American Soldiers (repeat the rant from above) and I'm concerned about the message we send Josiah when mom and dad are teaching him that our soldiers are heroes and they are the reason we have a freedom to protect in the first place....yet those soldiers aren't able to make an appearance at school"

TEACHER: "I understand, we are just worried that at this age, the boys especially...

REALLY IRRITATED BRAIN: BECAUSE ALL BOYS ARE CREATED EVIL AND STUPID?

TEACHER: ....won't be able to differntiate between real and make believe."

SARCASTIC MASCULINE BRAIN: Wow lady, you grew up without any brothers didn't you?

RATIONAL ME: "I understand and appreciate the fine line you have to walk at the school and I'm not really upset, I just believe this was handled in an overly sensitive manner and want my concern to be duly noted"

TEACHER: "I understand what you're saying, and I wouldn't ever try to tell a person what they should allow in their home...

MY "WATCH OUT YOU MIGHT CROSS THE LINE HERE" BRAIN: YOU ARE *@#* RIGHT YOU WON'T!!

TEACHER: but at school we really can't allow guns.

BRAIN: Even tiny plastic ones held by tiny plastic solders?

TEACHER: In fact, I've had some problems with some of the boys in the class not being able to differentiate between real and make believe this year when it comes to guns"

RESTRAINED BRAIN SLIPPING INTO SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SETH MEYERS BRAIN:

REALLY????????? THERE HAS BEEN A SHOOTING IN THE FIRST GRADE CLASS THAT I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT?Really???You mean to tell me a kid brought a 9 mm to school and shot one of the other kids because he couldn't differentiate between real and make believe???!!! Really??? How did I not hear about this? I would think Josiah would have come home and said "dad, you won't believe what happened today!" Really??? How did it not make the news, what kind of cover up is this? I would have pulled my kid out of school for counseling if I'd have known about it. No note home from the teacher or anything? Really???

I mean really....I grew up playing American vs. Russian, cops vs. robbers, cowboys and indians and just plain old shoot each other with anything you can find, including a chicken nugget bitten into the shape of a gun for heavens sake. I can assure you, when I met my first Russian friend...I didn't shoot him!! I never became a vigilante and hunted bad guys, I never shot an Indian and real bullets never came out of my chicken nuggets!!!!

Really???!!!! we're worried kids are stupid enough to shoot each other for real cause they don't know the difference? Heck, we even had bb gun wars as a kid and we knew that they would hurt but not kill. I even made my little brothers stand still and let me shoot them in the butt with the bb guns, but Really!!! I never pulled the 12 gauge down not knowing the difference between reality and make believe and shot either of them in the butt!!!

Really?? my kid can't take a small toy soldier to school? This is insane!

RATIONAL HEATH: "Well, thank you for your time, I still think it was handled in an overly sensitive manner. Have a nice day"

REALLY??

What's in a Name

2009-01-24T11:35:00.000-08:00

My name is mentioned in the Bible only twice, in Jeremiah 17 and 48 and it is referenced as a curse. However, it is one of only a few plants with the ability to produce fruit, or to bloom a flower in desert conditions...so it's actually a pretty cool meaning and I'm proud of it and grateful that God sees me that way.

Charis' name means God's Grace and she is full of it. (grace that is)

Karston's name comes from the root Christos which means anointed and was a name given to Christ, it then came to be translated Christian and finally Karston.

Josiah was the youngest and most righteous King in Israel.

Alyssa's name comes from the French form of the Germanic name Adelheidis which is composed of the elements "noble" and "kind". It then progressed to Adelaide, then Alice then Alicia before becoming Alyssa.

I think meanings of names have great significance.

In my Men's Fraternity meeting this morning (highly recommended men's study that can be found here) we discussed Adam's shortcomings in the Fall in the Garden. In Genesis 3:16 Adam names his wife "Eve" Prior to this she was referred to as "woman" While Eve means mother of all the living, it is often synonomous with seductress, or temptress. She really gets the bad rap here. The reality is....in this account of the temptation by the serpent, there isn't much mention of Adam until it says that Eve gave the fruit to Adam "who was with her". Adam wasn't off "at work while she sat at home watching soap operas and twiddling her thumbs with idle time" He WAS RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE STINKIN' TIME!!The problem here is that Adam abdicated his responsibility to REJECT PASSIVITY, TAKE RESPONSIBILTIY, LEAD COURAGEOUSLY, AND EXPECT A HIGHER REWARD. He became the epitome of passivity and apparently stood by and watched his wife be seduced into something he knew was forbidden. You can almost here inside his thoughts...."Let's see what happens here...if she dies...I bet God will make me another one. If she doesn't, then I can taste it too" Sickening.

Now Eve becomes the "bad guy" thru the ages when it was actually Adam's fault for not stepping between them like a man and shielding his wife from this danger. So...while Adam did name Eve, meaning mother of all the living, he also allowed her reputation to be tarnished, therefore he gave her the name of temptress and seductress thru his passivity.

Dad's and husbands. What are you naming your children and spouses? Are you naming them insecure? Are you naming them inadequate? Are you naming them lazy or undeserving? Or are you naming them Graceful, Anointed, Righteous, Noble and Kind allowing them to be able to flourish in any environment, even a dry desert?

Selah

The evidence of God's favor

2009-01-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I heard Bonhoeffer quoted on the radio today and have not been able to verify the quote, but it was to the effect of We must learn to rightly relate to suffering....suffering is not a curse, it is the evidence of God's loving favor upon a life.

Doesn't make sense. Or does it....it is, as mentioned in my previous vampire post, that it is promised for those that follow Christ. I understand sacrifice...I understand that Christ sacrificed for us and that we are called to sacrifice all for him. I mean, heck, we even had an entire Youth Summer Camp dedicated to the theme SACRIFICE '90! But...it turns out that to obey is better than sacrifice. What gives?

Romans 1:5 says that obedience comes thru faith. Interesting that Paul discusses bringing people to OBEDIENCE. OBEDIENCE seems to always require SACRIFICE. Either of time, will, desires, posessions, etc. OBEDIENCE to the gospel is OBEDIENCE to lay it all down, to SACRIFICE your way for his way, your life for his. It requires the SACRIFICE of your life...you are to share in the suffering and death of Christ. Seems like Paul should be calling people to SACRIFICE. Didn't the rich young ruler have to SACRIFICE his stuff?

But Paul specifies OBEDIENCE. Didn't the Old Testament (I Sam 15:22) teach us that to OBEY is better than SACRIFICE?

The OBEDIENCE part is difficult. SACRIFICE feels easy because we can measure it. We are able to accomplish it, it is immediately apparent and we can often pat ourselves on the back for "suffering for Jesus".

True OBEDIENCE tells you what, when, where how and how much to share in Christ's SACRIFICE and that kind of OBEDIENCE takes a serious amount of FAITH.

SACRIFICE is never a substitute for OBEDIENCE, but when done by FAITH, thru OBEDIENCE it can become a very spirtual act of worship.

Vampires!!!!

2008-12-31T08:47:00.000-08:00

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

Ok, that's gross. It takes on a different kind of visual image after reading the Twilight series about vampires and their insatiable thirst for human blood.

Remember, the people to whom he was speaking didn't have centuries of understanding to realize that Jesus was being metaphoric here. He just straight up said...you gotta eat my flesh and drink my blood. Make a meal out of me the Message Translation says. This freaked them out a bit. In fact, the disciples responded with "This is tough teaching...too tough to swallow (I'm sure no pun intended)"

Well....there was never a promise that following Jesus would be easy. In fact...just the opposite was promised...got that? PROMISED!!

See...I've had difficulties in life but never any real HARD times.

Until lately that is. My sister-in-law, in her recent Fight Club blog wonders "Would God destroy our homes to show us what really matters? One of my friends says God is not that manipulative, but I wonder if manipulative and sovereign could be synonymous when it comes to God."

I kind of think God knows the desire of our hearts and he grants them when they line up with his will. So, even though what was visible to others about my life looked more like a typical person that wanted to gain a foot up in life and have more stuff, the reality was that my heart craved a sold out life for God. I think he saw that and began to allow the stuff... the props in my life to begin to crumble. He began destroying my "home" to show me what really mattered. When we decided to really give God control of our life and see what would happen....It got HARD. Frankly...when we decided to allow God to teach us his principles and begin living within our means, our pretty little life we had created began to turn to ashes. We have lost a car and a motorcycle to reposession. We are driving a 12 year old vehicle that was given to us and our home will either be lost to short sale or foreclosure, whichever comes first. And we will be spending up to 4 years repaying a massive amount of accrued debt while we fight the overwhelming urge to give in to the easy option of falling back into debt. We decided to stop sacrificing our future...and our current effectiveness for Christ to gain present stuff.

We are actually excited about what God is going to do with us and through us as we allow ourselves to line up with "to live is Christ and to die is gain". We are dying with the excitement of the resurrection that will follow.

We foresee current effectiveness for Christ as we live below our means...and a future of being conduits of large blessing to others as we mantain the focus of earning to give.

We sing a song at church that has a great line in the chorus..."May the vision of you be the death of me" The more we see Christ...the more we die.

I had someone recently say that they were impressed with how we are handling our present circumstances. Well, to be honest...it's not that much different than the disciples response to Jesus' call for them to become bloodsucking vampires. He asked them "will you leave too?" Their response was not laced with awe inspiring devotion. They simply said "where else do we have to go?" Have you offered your life to God for inspection and the burning away of EVERYTHING that hinders you from a sold out life for God? Are you empty enough to respond to Leonard Sweets question - "Can the church stop its puny, hack dreams of trying to "make a difference in the world" and start dreaming God-sized dreams of making the world different? Can the church invent and prevent, redeem and redream this future?"

Has your life been stripped to the point of truly having no other option but to throw yourself headlong and wholeheartedly into HIS vision for your life? To say...what other option do I have but you and all of you?

It hurts....but in the words of John Mellencamp...."It hurts so good"

Do you have the faith to obey? Rom 1:5

The Long Awaited Presidential Fatherhood Blog

2008-09-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

Whether a kid can recognize or not...or be willing to admit it or not, he wants the approval of his Father. I have learned that kids need to hear 3 things. I love you. I'm proud of you. And...You're good at (fill in the blank). It's important to know your father believes these three things about you.

There have obviously been study after study shown about the importance of a father in the life of his son and absentee fathers are to blame for a lot of the problems in our nations and prisons. However, it's important to note that many fathers are present in their children's lives and it doesn't make a difference in their son's behavior..or a father is absent and the son goes on to live a fruitful and productive life of greatness.

Newsweek magazing has dwelt on an important observation recently regarding Barack Obama and John McCain. All presidents for that matter. The magazing has observed that most presidents had either an absent father or a high achieving powerful father figure. And in Barack's case... a little of both.

The issue isn't really pertinent to the current presidential debate, but does make me wonder why it is that presidents seem to be spawned from either absent fathers of powerful fathers. The obvious observation is that those with absent fathers are trying desparately to prove their value and worth apart from that upbringing. Almost as if to say "see I can do it on my own I didn't need you anyway" in order to mask the pain of the absence. And those with a powerful father figure seem to be trying desparately to live up to those expectations...either real or imagined.

The core issue though...is what are you as a father (or mother, cousin, uncle, mentor, friend) doing to make sure someone can look up to you and use your example as a launching pad into greatness. It also highlights the importance you have to those that look to you.

Jacob and Esau were desparately fighting for approval from their father. They both wanted the blessing of their father (there were monetary ramifications of this, but at the core, they wanted the approval of their father). They also wanted to please their father. Esau, in Genesis 28, found that his parents would be displeased if his brother married a Caananite. Esau then went, and in addition to his other wives, married a grandaughter of Abraham in order to garner their pleasure. Even as an adult, he was willing to go to great lengths to receive approval from his father.

Are you living a life worthy of having someone seek your approval? Are you allowing those over whom you have influence to be able to reflect off of you and become greatness? I urge you to understand the impact you have. Be a present AND powerful influence in the lives of your children. Live in a way that they can become presidential. That they can be "impacters" in the Kingdom of God as they live as ambassadors in this worldly kingdom. They can be great....but a lot of it depends on your life.

Persistence

2008-08-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

I was listening to the Mack, Jurko and Harry show on ESPN 1000 radio the other day. Once a week they have Cubs second basemen Mark Derosa (De row) on the show.

He has become well known in Chicago for not avoiding questions and always having great stories to share. He was responding to a question regarding pitcher Ted Lilly. He recalled a playoff game last year when a particular player went yard on Ted Lilly and Lilly responded in a Bad News Bears-esque manner throwing his mitt on the ground. Early this year Lilly was facing the same hitter and delivered an identical low, inside fast ball and was taken long again. DeRosa approached the mound and said "last year he took you deep on a low inside pitch. He just did it again. I think he has your low inside stuff figured out." Lilly just scowled at him and said "I'm bringing it again next time I face him!"

Often, pitchers like Lilly are described as Bulldogs. Reminds me of a story my dad tells about an English Bulldog he had as a kid. It would go in the pig pen and bite the Boar on the tale. The boar would spin in circles, lifting the bulldog off his feet, and slam the bulldog into the side of the barn. The bulldog would hit the ground and in one leap would have the boar's tail in his mouth again.

There is something about stupid persistence that is quite noble sometimes. Like my friend, Scott's father who would pack his lunch, walk to work every morning and return home every evening in order to support his family. Or my friend Thad, who was too stubborn to give in to his disability but steadfastly, persistently held on to God's promise of healing and left the wheelchair and is still independent to this day. Maybe it's like my old Bible College friend I recently reconnected with that has lived his life in a massive struggle of identity of self and reconciling that to his faith. Who has made the courageous decision to truly deny himself, against seemingly every fiber of his being, and offer his body as a living sacrifice to God. Or perhaps the inner city worker who sees one young person after another succumb to his surroundings only to get up another day and work with yet another young person that might be spared. Maybe it's the single mom who gives her life to her children and sets aside all her desires and comforts to provide for them. Maybe it's like Jacob who was deceived and cheated yet was too persistent to give up and worked another 7 years for his true love Rachel. Maybe it's my son Karston who gets up every day and goes through a routine of medications and interruptions in his day just to function with his disability. Maybe it's what I need to remember and learn from my son, that I just need to get up every day and keep on grinding, because the blessing is in store.

How about you? In what area of your life do you need to just keep firing low inside fastballs regardless of how many times life takes you yard? Do you have the courage to be a stupid, persistent bulldog? Let me know how and where you can be more bulldogish in your life.

Me And Animals Part II

2008-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

So....here is the end of the story, the part which prompted my wife to incorrectly and slanderously claim that I "flailed my arms like a girl".

My grandmother, Nanoo (yep, the one who's cow attacked me) is visiting for several weeks. So, we were over to visit. We had a nice meal on the patio and hung out for a while and ended the evening by watching a movie. It was quite late and I had to be at work the next day so we began loading up our crew to go. All of the kids were either asleep or very tired and it's become a bit of a tradition for my parents to carry the kids out to the van and buckle them in and do hugs and kisses. So, my father was walking out the front door carrying my 6 year old Josiah and I was right behind them. They went out the door first and I was right behind them when my dad looked at the door jamb and said "Oh look there's a frog" So, I looked. And this is when it all began. You see, I have a real issue with small critters. I would rather face the cow all over again than a charging squirrel. Thanks to Alfred Hitchcock I have a real issue with birds flying too close to me out of fear that they will either peck my eyeballs out while I lie squirming on the ground, or that they will steal something valuable of mine like the peacock in Florida that stole my giant chocloate chip cookie when I was a kid. When I was a teenager our cat chased a chipmunk into the house and I nearly lost all control of my bladder.

I would say that given the choice I would rather wrestle a Kodiak bear the size of Gentle Ben than have to deal with an angry bunny rabbit.

So...that should give some context to the rest of the story.

As I see this frog crawling up the door jamb from the corner of my eye my dad says "Ooh (which was a bit girlie in my opinion) it's a rat" OOHHH MMMYYYY GGGGOOODDD there's a rat within a foot of me and it's just high enough on the doorjamb to facilitate an easy leap onto my head to bore into my ear and feast on my brain while I die a slow painful neurologically torturous death. Granted...it's the size of a tree frog but PLEASE can't I choose to have a pregnant angry cow charging me??!!! If that freaking thing would have touched me I would have died an unintentionally self inflicted death in my efforts to escape it's blood soaked fangs!

Well...this is where there are a few different versions of the story. Everybody at the house (isn't it amazing how everyone but me can be completely mistaken on the actual facts of the story?) They all say I screamed in a high pitched tone as I spun in a circle flapping my arms. Really now...does that sound like me?

Here is the reality. In a moment of bravery and clarity, I managed to escape the throes of death at the claws of a vicious rodent.

The high pitched scream was really a Braveheart-esque war cry.

The spinning in a circle and flapping my arms is a gross misunderstanding of athleticism. All real men out there understand the swim move that Warren Sapp so aptly mastered and displayed for all Defensive Tackles the world over. See, my father and 6 year old son had me pinned in as a buffer between them and the beast. Now...I love my son and all but really...how can I leave a legacy if a R.O.U.S. (rodent of unusual size) has severed my jugular? So...I had to think of myself first.

I had the most flawless technique. With the left hand I slapped my father in the head to throw him off guard while simultaneously stepping through his block by completing a swim stroke with my right hand and in a feat of true beauty busted a spin move springing me clear of all danger. Remember....a war cry and a beautiful, athletic, brutal swim/spin move.

I then stood back about 20 feet while he killed the little critter with a shovel.

Gotta stay on your toes WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK!!!!!

Come on, lets show them a solid front, leave a comment acknowledging what a brave and stunning specimen of a man I am.

Me and Animals Part I

2008-06-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

So, this is a repost of a blog I put on myspace after a mishap on the farm....(Yes Richard and all you Liberty you Bahama trip alums...the cows finally got their revenge.

This should be good for a laugh or two.
When we were on vacation a few weeks ago, we stopped in B'ham and stayed with some good friends and had lunch with a few more. While there I played football. Didn't get hurt like my good friend James. From there we went to Florida and swam in the outdoor pool and waded in the ocean in early December and petted and fed alligators. Didn't get sick or bitten. We then drove to Georgia to my grandparents farm to visit my grandmother. There we swam in the nasty pond in December, shot 9mm, .45 handguns and several rifles. Didnt' get sick or the funk from the pond. Didn't get snake bit and didn't get shot. But....my wife and I were taking a early morning walk around the farm with the baby and the two dogs. We were walking thru the cow pasture (beef cows, not used to a lot of human interaction) and enjoying the little fiasco created by two beagles who have never seen cows and about 25 cows who have never seen dogs. Now...there were a few pregnant cows and a couple brand new baby cows...but I've been going there all my life and think I'm a pretty good judge of a cow's character. Some of the cows were very upset and agressive, but when they would charge me instead of the dog's, I would act real big and throw my hands up and yell at them to get away....which they do. A very fine tactic if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of bluffing cattle. Some of the cows would be downright mean and I would chase them off before they could misbehave, others were very friendly and I would let them approach and would scratch their head or feed them from my hand.
Well...one particularly large pregnant cow (about 2000-2500 lbs.) approached and I could tell she was friendly (remember I'm good at judging the character of cattle ha ha) she came right up to me, and as I was reaching out to pet her, she lowered her head and charged me before I could react. She slammed into my knees with her head (right knee still hurts and is stiff) then lifted her head quite agressively into my groin. This not only hurt enormously, but sent my flying on to her back, backwards, and slammed my head into her shoulder blade. (felt like I had been punched above my eye for a week). I'm now laying on this cow backwards, my wife screaming for the cow to "stop it" and both dogs barking and howling. The cow proceeds to run with me riding backwards on it's neck feeling quite confused and instinctivelly punching it in the ribs, which, as it's a 2500 lb. cow, is less effective as the aforementioned tactic of acting big, throwing hands up and yelling. It then wants to punish me for taking this ride and runs head first into a barbed wire fence which managed to not only cut my leg up, but hurt the cow and make her angry thinking that I was the one poking her in the head. She then proceeds to throw me through the air sideways landing on my butt between her and my wife holding my 8 month old baby. Now that she's not blindfolded by my crotch and can see the source of her discomfort, she feels it's her maternal duty to charge my with the intent of stomping me to China. Luckily, I got off one good punch that caught her behind the ear causing her to wince in pain and turn in the other direction.
All this to say, I now think it unwise to play Dr. Phil in analyzing the intentions of beef, and just stay away from cows when there is no protective barrier.
See..you're laughin' out loud now aren't you?

I know you're thinking of some interesting comments to leave for me.....leave them and wait a few days for my most recent adventure with "wild" animals.....and remember, no matter what my wife says, there was no "girlie flailing" of the arms.

Still Gotta Be a Father on Father's Day!

2008-06-15T08:12:00.001-07:00

So...it is Father's day and I've already been a bit spoiled. Got snuggle time and breakfast in bed from the kids. Got a Best Dad Ever certificate and received a coupon book for fun stuff from Reese and the kids that are redeemable throughout the rest of the year. But, I've been reminded that I can't really take Father's day off.

See, my ideal rainy father's day is, after lunch of course...falling asleep on the couch while watching Chicago beat Toronto

And a little US Open action.

However, the kids really want me to watch Waterhorse with them so it looks like rather than sleeping to the sound of the crack of bats and the hushed tone of Open commentators, I'll be sleeping to the sound of the Loch Ness monster.

What will you be doing to enjoy your family today and more importantly allow your family to enjoy you?

Financial Legacy (Part 1 of 12)

2008-06-08T21:57:00.001-07:00

If you remember, part of my "Manhood Plan", my strategy to be the husband and father I've been called to be in order to effect a long term legacy on my family, is

-I desire to reach financial freedom for my family in order to pursue God's callings without encumberance. To this end I will continue seeking God for his will with our money, finding ways to free more money to reduce debt sooner.

Dave Ramsey states it well when he says: "If you will live like no one else, Later you can LIVE/give like no one else!!"

To this end, Charis and I have begun a 12 week study by Dave Ramsey called Financial Peace University. It is encouraged that we journal our progress so I thought this would be as good a place as any.

It seems as though, although our income has increased, our ability to save has decreased. Some of this is due to our reliance on credit cards when my commission-only business was getting started, some of this is due to our buying a house and drastically increasing our housing expense. But, most of all, it is a mindset and excuse. The point was made that if our child were going to die unless he received a $1,000 vaccination, we would find a way to come up with that thousand. Good point. Dave recommends several baby steps, the first of which is to save $1,000 in an "emergency" fund. We have decided to take this first baby step although it doesn't seem possible with our current expense/income ratio. I currently have $50 deducted from my paycheck twice a month. We will continue to do this, but add a few things to this. We have decided to TRY to decrease our grocery/food budget from $700 a month to $400 freeing up $300. This will be quite a challenge of frugality, creativity and discipline in order to feed a family of 5 (and 2 dogs) on $100 a week. Also...I have TEMPORARILY postponed my 401(k) contributions and will re-route that into savings as well which will provide an additional $230ish a month. At this rate, if we can stick to it (could use your prayers for God's provision on that one) we will have our first baby step completed in 6 1/2 weeks. Currently we have 5% of our goal completed.

Forcible Following

2008-06-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

It's interesting how God forces us to follow him sometimes because He loves us so much. It's interesting how God treated Lot and his family in Sodom. Sometimes... once we have surrendered ourselves to God and voluntarily placed ourselves in servitude and given him permission to direct our life...he does so. We like to believe that God ALWAYS speaks in a gentle whisper like He did to Elijah on the mountaintop, or that he leads us with gentle nudgings or that he is always the footprint in the sand gently and lovingly caring us. Sometimes, he gently and lovingly drags us kicking and screaming, sometimes He forcibly leads us. There are times when my kids are going against our wishes (perhaps walking towards something dangerous or just being outright rebellious and not going where we tell them) that I will walk over to them, grab them by the wrist, and drag them to where they belong. Turns out that's a godly example.

In Genesis 19:16 it says...."When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them"

Sometimes mercy is forcible.

I think my family is experiencing this and it's quite uncomfortable.

The Beginning of a Legacy

2008-05-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

So, my oldest son, Karston, who will be 9 in October surprised me in a very pleasant manner the other morning. As we were going through our morning routine of his medication and all the things he must endure each morning, he looked at me and said: "I hope I have kids one day, I can't wait to be a dad" I immediately knew this could be a meaningful conversation. I asked him why he looked forward to having kids and his response was "to be able to build good memories for them" I must admit, it really felt good to hear him say that because it let me know that he was saying that from experience and he feels like I help build good memories for him. (camping, s'mores in the backyard, white water rafting, throwing the ball, bike rides to tastee freez, trips to the city, feeding homeless niagara falls etc.)

My son, Captain K man is in good company desiring to be a father. We all know that Abraham wanted children and waited many years to see his promise come to fruition. I like that Karston's answer "to be able to build good memories for them" was outward and future focused. It wasn't because it would be fun, or he would have someone to play with...it was to leave a lasting impression. Abraham understood something of the legacy he was to leave when, in verse 3 of Genesis 15, he states: "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit [c] my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" He understood that all he stood for and his impact on the world was all for naught if there was no one to continue the legacy.

I'm very proud of Karston for having a vision for the future and desire to instill in him, Josiah and Alyssa the importance of raising a Godly generation.

Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

Sound like a legacy in the making to me. What will your legacy look like?

There's just something about......God

2008-05-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

So...it's funny what happens when you are conscientous about letting God lead your life. We had been attending a great church for a couple years but began feeling like God was leading us to a smaller more missional minded church. So, after a lot of conversation and praying, we made the move to Fusion Church in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Immediately (quite literally) we were asked if we could help a family in the community. We were at church on Sunday and Monday at the zoo when we received a call asking us if we could help. Funny thing is, at the beginning of the year we made a conscious effort in our budget to set aside more money with which to be a blessing. This family needed some diapers...then a gas card to get to Love Inc., on organization that helps people with clothing etc. All of these things we were doing, were actually a little bit of a strain on our finances as it was a tight month for us, but we really believed this was a situation that had been placed in our paths by God. We also knew there was this crazy Christian cliche that you can't "outgive God". So, we continued to help out after reviewing each situation to be sure it was a legitimate need.

Then....my 1986 Nissan Sentra finally rusted apart. That's right, the engine still runs well but the axle and brake line rusted through. So, I went to bed on a Saturday night and had a conversation with God. Something like this..."God, there's no need for me to go into debt that I can't afford for a car....you can provide." Well, it turns out that on Sunday morning, I was telling our pastor about our car situation when he says "Do you need a car, we have someone that's giving one away"

Isn't that just like God. So, we've upgraded the model of our car by 10 years and it's much bigger so that our whole family can now fit into either of our cars if one is unavailable. God's pretty good huh. And it's always interesting that God rewards our obedience and sacrificial giving in ways that are beyond our expectations.

Legacy Plan

2008-05-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

So... I learned something from the cup I was drinking out of Sunday at Chipotle. It says, "Wes Jackson is fond of saying that if your life's work can be accomplished in your lifetime, you're not thinking big enough."

That sounds a lot like what I've been coming to understand about fatherhood. My job as a father and husband is to intentionally be the father and husband that God has called me to be. To bring out the best in my wife and kids and to set an examle for my kids regarding how they should act as husbands and expect to be treated as a young lady.

I recently finished year one of "Men's Fraternity: The Quest for Authentic Manhood" and we were encouraged to create a Manhood Plan based upon the different lessons we experienced during our 24 weeks.

This is mine:

Being the Husband, Father, Leader and Grandfather I'm indended to be

-Each day on the way home from work, I will seek God and allow Him to prepare me to be intentionsl in my discipline, unselfish with my time and a servant to Charis.

-I will date Charis within one week of each paycheck ensuring that we date twice a month.

-Will plan an annual time away with just me and Charis-at least one weekend

-Once a month, at least be the 25th, I will find a tangible way to display affection and affirmation to Charis (flowers, card, note, etc)

-I will begin praying one on one with Charis nightly

-During the week I will actively look for and record things about my children that make me proud or that they are good at and share those things with them one on one at our monthly date.

-I want to facilitate Karston, Josiah and Alyssa encountering and falling in love with God. I will strive to live this daily but will also keep a laser focus on our two rules: Loving God and Loving People with the goal of making this a legacy and mission to be passed on to all future Goodson generations.

-I will plan at least one FUN family outing each month in order to play together and build lasting memories.

-I will continue to date Alyssa thru High School and her early adulthood until she is married. In doing this I will rely on God's grace to instill in her that she is a Princess who's very confidence and femininity will demand nothing less than respect and honr from the men in her life.

-I will continue my Bible study routine and wil lcontinue to fast on Mondays to pray for my family and whatever issues are presenting themselves at that time.

-I will actively seek a vibrant community of Godly men who hold me accountable and with whom I have a relationship that extends beyond a weekly "surface" encounter.

-I desire to reach financial freedom for my family in order to pursue God's callings withoug encumberance. To this end I will continue seeking God for his will with our money, finding ways to free more money to reduce debt sooner.

-I will begin a journal of sound financial principles that I desire to teach my children in order that they be armed with the tools essential to avoid financial pitfalls early in life.

-I will continue striving to maintain healthy diet and proper exercise in order to maintain my health and longevity allowing me to serve my family into my great grandchildren's generation.

I desire to use these tools to become an old man that is happy, content and in love. I look forward to the day that I can spend time with my children and their children and be blessed by their Godliness. To have my face and smile and love bring light to all those around me. To live long enough to experience a legacy of service to the Lord lived out in future generations. To have the privilege of my children and grandchildren seeking me out to speak blessing over their life. And to end each day in prayer with Charis and lying in bed discussing the many blessings God has bestowed on and through our family.

So, I know this seems methodical and sterile, but this gives me actionable steps towards becoming the man I'm called to be. What's your plan?

Any comments?

Still Gotta Do It

2008-05-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

So, I have been running, I ran a mile every day for the first two weeks. Have been able to get to a place where I can actually haul my fat butt around the neighborhood for a mile and not die at the end. Pretty soon I will start timeing myself and working on getting my time down before progressing to a mile and a half. I have been a little undisciplined in my diet this week and ran a little less (cold, stomach ache,...all the good excuses). But...I did lose 5 lbs. and that is good news. Who knows, maybe I'll be healthy enough to have the privilege of seeing generations of Goodson legacy. Next blog, I'll share with you my "Manhood Plan" from my Quest For Authentic Manhood. It's important to have a plan to create a legacy and a plan to stay around long enough to see it through completion.

Fathers

2008-04-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

So, if you have read the explanation of my blog, or read a few of my blogs (Gotta Do It, Legend) you know that I take fatherhood seriously and understand that it comes with a great amount of responsibility.

This was brought to light even more for me recently while reading Genesis. Chapter 15:7 says

He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

He says, "I brought YOU..." However, in Genesis 11:31, it is stated that Terah, Abrahams father, took him and his grandson and daughter in law from Ur of the Chaldeans into Canaan. He didn't call Abraham out, he called his father out. From the rest of his life, it is quite obvious that God definitely wanted Abraham out of the the land of the Chaldeans, and used his father to do so.

So, the logical understanding is that God used Abraham's father to move Abraham into the land that God wanted him in for his future destiny. As far as we know, according to Joshua 24:2, Terah didn't worship God. However, God needed Abraham's father in order to carry out His plans in Abraham's life. Guess it's pretty clear that God intends fathers to be the instrument of His will in children's life.

So, what are you doing in your childrens life to bring about God's purposes. Or, better yet, how are you planning to to bring about God's purposes in your future children's lives? If an unbelieving father can be used to mold his children's lives, you can be too.

God, nature and Ronald Reagan

2008-04-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Job 38 and 39 when God tells Job "brace yourself like a man, I will speak to you and you will answer" God then proceeds to "lay the wood" on Job. He goes on and on about his amazing power and speaks rather sarcastically to Job about the fact that he doesn't compare to God's wisdom and power. At the very end of chapter 38 and all of 39, he shifts gears and becomes rather compassionate and passionate. The object of his compassion however, is nature. Several times in chapter 38 he makes birth references when talking about nature. It's as if His creation is his offspring and in chapter 39, he is quite proud of his offspring. He begins talking about taking care of lion cubs and young ravens in their hunger, then he talks about the mountain goat. These few verses have always been very tender to me. He makes it known that His presence is present at the birth of a baby mountain goat in the deep crags of a mountain. That he knows the due date and counts down the months like an expecting Father. I've always been humbled by the fact that he loves me even more than that mountain goat which receives so much of his attention.

He then goes on to brag about the independence of the donkey, the strength and stubborness of the ox, the speed of the ostrich, the bravery of the horse and the superiority of the eagle. God is quite proud of his creation. I think it's important to him that we take care of it. In chapter 31:38-40, Job says that if he had indeed neglected the care of the earth, then he would be deserving of his "punishment". Often times we tend to forget about the beauty of his creation and the fact that he is proud of it and wants us to enjoy it.

I've been reading "The Reagan Diaries" and was moved by an entry he posted on one particular Sunday. He was feeling guilty that he was unable to attend church due to the security problems posed after being shot. He and Nancy spent the day horeseback riding in the woods at Camp David and his entry read: "I hope God realizes how much I feel that I am in a temple when I'm in his beautiful forest and countryside"

I have to think this statement by Reagan put a smile on God's face. After all, what parent doesn't enjoy a compliment about his offspring?

When was the last time you enjoyed God's nature? Let me know about the experience and what you most enjoyed about it.

Gotta do it!!

2008-04-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, part of a 150 year plan to leave a legacy for your famiy is sticking around long enough to see it happen. I regret to say that I'm currently only 10 pounds away from my all time high of 260 pounds. That's right, I'm at 250. I need to get back down to the 225 I weighed a year ago after losing 40 pounds. Unfortunately, I can eat relatively healthy and mantain my 250 weight. I must be a little more disciplined with my diet, but most important need to get off my butt and run daily. So, it is my goal to get up in the mornings and run. I'm hoping to be able to force myself through a mile tomorrow. I know a mile isn't much but part of this will be uphill and I've got to start somewhere. So, I'll post a picture here of myself currently and will blog on the 15th and end of each month with an update. A little "atta boy" and encouragement would help along the way although I need to be a self motivator on this thing and make it happen. So here I am Sunday at my daughter's birthday party (the same daughter I need to stick around long enough for to see her kids.)

My Princess is two

2008-04-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, my baby Princess Peanut, Alyssa is turning two tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of her getting older at all, but I will be carrying on a second generation tradition tomorrow. My dad used to take me (and my brothers) out to breakfast on the morning of our birthday. I have always done that with my kids as well and will be going to McDonalds tomorrow with my little two year old princess for some pancakes and lovin'. Since she's only two, we won't be having a heart to heart but we will be building memories.

Two Weeks Old

First Year Birthday

Couple days ago

what if???

2008-04-09T18:53:00.000-07:00

That's the big question, what if I hadn't won the bracket pool at work? The loser was going to have to wear a moustache (porn-stache as we called it) for a week at work as we serviced our customers and dealt with high finance, all the while trying to be taken seriously. So, if I hadn't won, this is how bad it would have looked.

Seriously, would you entrust your life savings to this? ??? Didn't think so, good thing I didn't lose (thank you memphis)

FFFIIIINNNAAALLLYYY!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today, was, according to the weather man, going to be a beautiful day and my wonderful wife said "Are you going to ride the motorcycle to work?"

I have to admit, my ride to my mens meeting, Mens Fraternity: The Quest For Authentic Manhood, was a little chilly as it was in the upper 30's, but it was beautiful by 8 when I left my small group to go to work and it was fantastic riding the rest of the day.

The only bummer is that my Grandmother, Nanoo, wasn't here to ride with me like she was last year, that's right 86 year old biker mama.

yep, in a dress!

Horton Hears a Who and The Intimate Friendship of God

2008-04-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I took the family to see Dr. Seuss' HORTON HEARS A WHO. It was a really cute movie and the kids all liked it. Alyssa kept calling Horton the elephant a "poppie"

which was also very cute.

The movie also had quite an element of theology to it, although I couldn't agree with it wholeheartedly. The mayor of Whoville was discovered floating adrift without any hope of rescue until discovered by Horton, the goofy elephant. The movie then goes on to show Horton and the mayor having a personal relationship in which the mayor could speak to Horton any time he wanted. In fact, oftentimes the mayor was very much the high priest standing in the gap for the town and speaking to Horton for help and rescue. (Maybe I'm stretching it here, but I couldn't help but wonder if the genius of Dr. Seuss wasn't trying to make a statement.)

Anyhow, what I didn't agree with was the fact that Horton, representing God, didn't know what was going on in the lives of the Whovillers. He couldn't see them because He was too big and they were too small and insignificant. He couldn't be intimitately involved with their lives and therefore became the genie in the bottle to respond to every request brought by the mayor. However, there was something quite endearing in the way Horton went out of his way to take care of these little people... that he couldn't even see...on a little speck of dust... on a cloverleaf...in the middle of the jungle . In fact, I didn't even come to appreciate how cool that was until I was reading Job 29 this morning during breakfast and I saw the beauty of it. Job was lamenting and longing for the months gone by in which, in verse 2, he states "when God's intimate friendship blessed my house"

The Hebrew word for friendship is COWD, which means "the company of a person-intimacy" and it comes from a root word meaning "be alert and sleepless-on the watchout".

I'm sure we've all had friendships in which we feel completely safe and can be vulnerable, but there is no friendship that creates safety and comfort like that of God's intimate friendship. As the man of my house I desire to bring my family the enjoyment of the days in which "God watches over me, his lamp shining on my head and by his light we walk through darkness! When God's intimate friendship blesses my house and the Almighty is with me and my children are all around me." Job 29:2-5

So WHOever you are out there in Whoville, begin to experience God's intimate friendship which will bless your house.

Apostle Paul and Piers Morgan

2008-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

So, we watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice that we had DVR'd tonight after getting home from hiking at Starved Rock state park in the "sprawling metropolis" of Utica, Illinois. Very cool history. There was a war going on between two indian tribes, one tribe went to the highest point on the river but were victims of a siege by the other tribe and some of their allies until they all starved to death. Anyway, a lot of anaologies there but that will have to be for another blog at another time.

Back to Celebrity Apprentice. Several observations. One it's a bummer that Trump had to choose Piers over Trace Adkins, but Piers did do a better job raising money. Two, Omarosa is as classless as I thought. Three, if I ever had any respect for the Backstreet Boys (I didn't in case you were wondering) it is all gone now after their requests for Wheat Grass Juice and black nail polish. Four, it's a shame Trump is only donating 250k to the charities as he is worth billions. But, most importantly, the observation that stood out to me the most is the reason Piers was able to win Celebrity Apprentice. He is renowned for his "deep roladex". In contacting celebrities for charity events, he was able to call on people such as: The Osbournes, Simon Cowell, The Dutchess of York and "Lord" Andrew Lloyd Webber of Phantom of The Opera fame. In watching this I realized that it wasn't a matter of merely having these peoples phone numbers stored in his I-phone, but of cultivating a relationship with these people over the course of many years. My first inclination was to feel as though I was missing out on many benefits of keeping up with my contacts that I meet on a daily basis, many of whom are quite influential and affluent. This was merely a selfish thought as I was thinking of how those relationships could benefit me in the future. I then realized that this is what the Apostle Paul did. Only he did it in a day and age without email, cell phones, faxes or even a reliable Postal Service. Paul intentionally cultivated his relationships in order to continually speak life into these people. I have been convicted to begin doing this as well, to keep up with the people I continually come into contact with for the purpose of creating a window of opportunity at some point in the future that God can use me to speak life into them.

So, I hope to begin "deepening my rolodex" in the future and create a network of people who God may use me to bring life to. Pray for me in this endeavor.

1st graders, farts and bloody butts

2008-03-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

So...I volunteered to help in The Great Adventure kids program at our church THE CHAPEL...wow, that's not my calling. It's a great kids program and it is very interactive and is fast paced to keep the kids attention. However, I had first grade boys and nothing keeps their attention. The story of course was the resurrection of Christ and after a short cartoon, we were to discuss, in our small group some of the things that ocurred. Well, immediately a hand went up to inform me that "someone did a fart over here" which of course sent the kids laughing and pointing at each other. Then, when I asked what happened to the guards at the tomb, I thought we were making progress when one little boy answered..."There was a big flash of light, like lightning, and it hurt the guards eyes and scared them, so they passed out." However, he went on to explain that the guards fell and hit their heads on rocks, so "blood came pouring out of their butts"??!!???!!???!!???!??? I don't remember that ever being in the Bible and I don't think a knock on the head could possibly cause that bodily reaction and I'm more than a little disturbed that this kid had a bit of a fixation on blood and farts!! And more than once I wanted to shout BUHLUD NOT FUNNYYYYY!!!

It was quite an interesting night. I confiscated a hat, pokemon cards, a game stop gift card, had to stop a boy from sitting in front of the smaller kids to block their view, had two boys doing a push up contest in the middle of the lesson, one kid jumping on others, one taking his shoes off and sticking his feet on another kids nose, two kids pulling up the carpet and someone "doing a fart over here." Wow, I think I'll stick with older people from now on. More power to those of you like my brother Seth who are childrens pastors cause it takes a special grace.

Sportin a "Porn"stache

2008-03-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

So, me and a couple guys at work filled out our NCAA brackets and since we're all family men with kids to support and the sole income of our households, we decided we didn't need to put any money on the table. So...we decided that the last place person would have to sport a full on moustache for an entire week at work. The second place person would have to sport the "chin only" beard for a week as well. Of course, the winner can just laugh at everyone else. Currently, I am in second place due to Xavier pulling it out over Georgia and busting my bracket up a bit. So, if it ended now, I would be sporting the chin beard, so I decided to post this pic of when I once rocked it out before. So, what do you think?

So, this is the beginning stages and the next picture was mid stage. It got to the point that I could braid it into two different braids but I couldn't find a "full grown" picture.
So, what do you think? Even if I win the bet should I keep growing the chin?

What would you do?

2008-03-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

So, as a Financial Advisor, I have to learn about my client's goals and passions in order to understand what emotions are driving the decisions they make regarding their finances. It also helps when we are in tumultuous times like this to know what their passions and goals are to avoid making irrational "knee jerk" reactions. I usually just simply ask what they want reirement to look like etc. I've been trying to find ways to ask this question in a manner that demands a more creative answer. One of these questions would be: "If you had enough money to take care of all of your needs for the rest of your life, how would you live differently than you are now?" This not only defines our financial goals but reveals the truly important things in our lives. Helps us define and discover God's calling on our lives. "...I will give you the desires of your heart." He placed the desires in us and we honor Him by discovering those desires and beginning to long for them.

Curious to know some of your thoughts on this question. Think about it and leave a comment letting me know how you would live differently.

I know my answer is that I would spend a lot more time at home with my wife and kids, working only just enough to afford a lot of exotic travel, and I would be able to spend more time planning social projects/mission projects with my kids. Working with homeless, helping children etc. We would also probably pursue adoption with a little more fervor and urgency.

Let me know what your heart says.

Legend, John

2008-03-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a big music lover. Music of all kinds: Country, blues, easy listening, classic rock, swing, jazz, oldies, folk, rap, hip hop, bluegrass, classical, gospel, worship and even old hymns. My most recent purchase is John Legend-Get Lifted. I really enjoy his voice, piano, hip-hop fusion and the gospel influences you can hear in his songs. The most popular track and one of my favorites is called Ordinary People in which he chronicles the ups and downs of his relationship and the promise to stick together through all the ups and downs. However, the chorus bugs me. "We're just ordinary people/ We don't know which way to go/ Cuz we're ordinary people/ Maybe we should take it slow/ Take it slow...This time we'll take it slow."

It seems to me, that husbands and fathers should be able to remedy the problem presented in this chorus. That is, assuming they are AUTHENTIC MEN of God. An AUTHENTIC MAN knows that He is not ordinary because he has been called to a Higher purpose by his God. He will know which way to go because he listens closely to his God for the direction of his family. He has a specific plan in place in which to lead his family and he has a vision for his family. A 150 year vision that looks beyond his lifetime and the lifetime of his children, to the LEGEND or legacy that he will leave behind. When a man is being a man there is no insecurity or lack of direction in his family, it is only when a man abdicates his responsiblity that families feel like ordinary people who don't know which way therefore have to take it slow. In fact, God once punished Jerusalem and Judah by removing from them all the men of valor.

Isaiah 3:1-12

1The mighty LORD All-Powerful
is going to take away
from Jerusalem and Judah
everything you need--
your bread and water,
2soldiers and heroes,
judges and prophets,
leaders and army officers,
3officials and advisors,
fortunetellers
and others
who tell the future.
4He will let children and babies [a] become your rulers.
5You will each be cruel
to friends and neighbors.
Young people will insult
their elders;
no one will show respect
to those who deserve it...
8Jerusalem and Judah,
you rebelled against
your glorious LORD--
your words and your actions,
made you stumble and fall....
You are in for trouble,
and you have brought it all
on yourselves....
12Though you are God's people,
you are ruled and abused
by women and children.
You are confused by leaders
who guide you
down the wrong path."

The question I have to constantly ask myself is..."am I allowing my family to be blessed or cursed due to my absence or presence." I want to be sure that my family is never without the soldier, hero and prophet I have been called to be.

So, when it comes to Legend. Will it be John Legend or the Legend of the Goodson legacy? Will it be John Legend or the Legend of your family? Come on guys, be a man.

Long time no blog

2008-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Just felt the need for a little transition as I haven't blogged in quite some time. My nephew Gideon,passed away after a little over a month of blessing us with his presence and incredible example of a warrior's heart. That was obviously a difficult time for our family and we appreciate the prayers and support of all who were involved in doing this. His celebration/memorial service was moving and touching with well over 100 people there to celebrate the life of this little warrior. Since then Seth and Tarah had my niece Jericho (Jerry Curl) Joy Goodson and she is quite a cutie, seen here with my kiddos. Also, my other brother Khane and his wife Elisabeth have just found out they are pregnant with their first.

We have seen a long history of Satan's attack on the first born of our families. There were complications with my birth and then quite an attack on my life from age 9/10 until about 12 when I was being pulled away from God in some rather drastic measures relative to my age. Then, my oldest son was born with a spinal disorder which my wife has chronicled in one of her blogs lypoma which could have created much more drastic disabilities for him than he has already experienced, we now pray for him to remain strong and untouched in his emotions as he deals with difficult side results of his disablity. Then, Seth and Tarah had a miscarriage of their first child and experienced the death of their second. Please agree with us that there will be no way the 150 year legacy of Goodson's can be hindered by the attack on our children and pray for protection of Khane and Elisabeth's child and all the Goodson clan still to come. Quite reminiscent of the attacks on the firstborn children when Moses was targetted and later Jesus.

So, now that you are caught up, I do intend to be a little more frequent with my blogs than once every couple years. There will be random thoughts, funny thoughts, scriptural insights, challenges to be a man and who knows what else. Would love some feedback and comments ocassionally. This blog is primarily intended to be something that my children can read one day along with my Bible study/prayer journals and help feed the flame of intentional legacy creation within them.

good news bad news gonna be good news

2005-11-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

Good news, we are in our house. We moved on Thanksgiving day into the house. We are loving it but are now trying to get rid of boxes. It is a 5 bedroom 2 bath 2700 square foot home with a ton of character. It had hardwood floors covered with carpet so i pulled the carpet from the formal living room and dining room and used the carpet to piece together in the basement/den for a little more warmth. 9 foot ceilings all throughout, crown molding, fireplace, big kitchen, plaster walls, beautiful oak doors. It is a real blessing that we were able to move in. We are now waiting for estimates on chimney work, roof work and a fence to be built. If you know anyone in the Chicago area, please recommend them.

Bad news, my little brother and his wife had their baby premature at 26 weeks and there are a lot of complications. He wasn't expected to make it through last night but did. There was only a 3-5% chance of his survival after a minor surgery was done to determine the source of swelling in his abdomen. Currently the specific prayer requests are that there will be no more brain bleeding, that his kidneys continue to have restored function, that the infection which has found it's way into his blood stream will go away and that he will be fully restored to health.

Gonna be good news, there are literally thousands of people across the world praying for him and we are excited to see the testimony God is going to bring out of this situation. He is named Gideon Uriah and Gideon means "mighty warrior" If you are familiar with the story of Gideon in the Bible you will understand that the victory Gideon led the Israelites to was so against the odds that recognition could only go to God. Little Gideon Uriah Goodson is in a situation that is hopeless in our eyes and the healing that he will receive will be so against the odds that the recognition can only go to God. I have been passing on emails to my little brother that people have been sending so if you have a word of encouragement or prayer, please send it to me at goodsonfam@hotmail.com so I can forward it on to he and his wife in New York state for their encouragement.

house news

2005-11-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

Things are looking good on the house. They accepted our offer then after the inspection they agreed to our request to have money credited back at closing to do a minor roof repair in one spot as well as repair some brick work on the chimney and have it cleaned. The closing is set for Nov. 17th so the only remaining piece is the details of the financing. Looks good so far so we are beginning to get excited and looking for boxes.

house updates

2005-10-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like we have a house. It is the house we wanted but didn't think we could get up here. It is a old house with a lot of character and is built really well. It is a five bedroom two bath house with a full basement. The seller has accepted our offer and we are approved on the financing. All that is left now is determining and coming up with the closing costs. We are excited about moving in and celebrating christmas in the new house.

2005-10-23T21:49:00.000-07:00

what a great sports weekend. The Sox win game one and are working on game two as we speak. BIG NEWS, Alabama beats hated Tennessee to stay undefeated. The Bears beat the Ravens, great sports weekend. We also just got back from Medieval Times and that was a lot of fun. A little pricey but worth it for a good evening. We went and looked at all the swords and horses. We also paid a little extra for my oldest son who is celebrating his sixth birthday, to be knighted. They called him out in front of everyone and he kneeled before the king and wore a red cloak as the king knighted him then posed with the king and his hand on the sword for a picture that they framed and gave us. We then went in and watched the show, with sword fights and jousting and amazing horsemanship. We also were served a 4 course meal that you have to eat with your hands. It was an amazing two hour show. We decided that all of the boys cousins would have a great time and need to come up here sometime and go to the show. We will also have a pizza party at pizza hut in our town on saturday night for all of his friends

We are still looking for houses and my tenant in Alabama is serious about buying our house which would be a big financial blessing for us. Also, my wife has been doing very well this week and shown no signs of bad symptoms so we are hoping and praying that the blood clot has dissipated. We see the doctor Tuesday for another ultrasound.

Enough for tonight.

good weekend

2005-10-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

house

2005-10-20T22:53:00.000-07:00

This house thing is driving us crazy. We got our pre-approval and had a pretty good offer on a house but got beat out by a cash offer. Oh well, the house we are meant to have had better be a good one after losing out on three. Also, our renter in our house in Alabama has offered to buy our house from us. Not sure if we are ready to sell yet, but on the other hand, the cash would be nice and i wouldn't have to worry about the monthly rent being on time and making all the small repairs. Oh well, interested to see what happens.

I'm Back

2005-10-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay, life has been taking us the full 12 rounds. My wife is still on bed rest, going on one month. The subchoreonic Hematoma is about 1.5 cm which isn't small but isn't large either. The doctors aren't too concerned but there is an element of worry that the hematoma could enlargen which would endanger the baby.

We are still looking for a house and have jumped through hoops to get preapproval for a mortgage and are now waiting to hear back regarding the offer we submitted to a seller. We are asking them to pay the downpayment which limits our negotiating room.

My oldest son is doing much better with his spina bifida related issues at school. With the aid of a daily suppository, he has gone one full week now without any accidents at school. He even wore underwear instead of a pull up one day last week without us knowing it.

The big news for the week is that my oldest son just turned 6 today!!!!!! Freaky that he is that old already and I just got there college investment plans started. He and I woke up early this morning and went to McDonald for his daddy/son birthday breakfast that my dad used to have with me. He then got to choose the class snack so he took 25 individual chocolate puddings to school. He got to sit in a special birthday chair and hold the birthday teddy bear at school today. He also wore a crown and had the class sing to him. This afternoon I picked him up to school instead of him riding the bus. I picked him up on my motorcycle and all the kids oohed and ahhed. When I pulled up, one of the safety patrol kids yelled "who's dad has the cool motorcycle?" When he walked up, they all started saying, "wow, a kindergartner gets to ride home on the motorcycle just because it's his birthday" It was nice weather so we rode around the lake a bit. When we got home we played "butts up" with the tennis ball outside and went exploring in the woods. After dinner we had cake and let him open his GI Joe he's been wanting. On the 29th we will have a pizza party at pizza hut with all his friends, but this Sunday he gets to go to Medieval Times with the family. He's pretty excited.

Will try to stay on top of things now, would appreciate your prayers for my wife and the house situation.

Yes Matt

2005-10-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Yes Matt, it is me, would love to hear from you. Why don't you shoot a email to my junkmail account at goodsonfam@hotmail.com and I'll get in touch with you.

sorry

2005-09-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

sorry it's been so long since my last post. It has been a very eventful week so I will have much to share with my next blog, stay posted

the shadow proves the son

2005-09-16T20:40:00.000-07:00

started today with a meeting with the principal and got a few things hashed out although I don't feel nearly the support from the principal as I do from the teacher and nurse. I was listening to the new switchfoot cd and the song "the shadow proves the sun" really spoke to me. I thought of Psalm 23 "yeah though I walk thru the valley of the shadow of death..." I have always found comfort in the fact that it was only the shadow of death. I have found something new to take comfort from in that psalm. The fact that there is a shadow of death is encouraging because a shadow can't exist without the light of the sun (son). If I feel like I am surrounded by shadows, that is a good thing because it means the son is still shining on me.

Remember, the shadow proves the presence of the son.

oh well for now

2005-09-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a good meeting with my sons teacher and school nurse. We are very much on the same page now and feel supported by the school. The nurse even called to day to let us know that he had gone to the bathroom in the potty today at school, she felt we needed some good news. Meeting with the principal tomorrow to go over some things that we need for her to be on board with our plans and goals for Karston.

Oh Well for now on the house. We had our inspection today and the seller would have to credit us with 15k at closing to take care of issues in the home as well as pay for another inspection and have the water and gas turned on for the inspection. I'm sure she won't do that now but we will ask her and let her be the one to say no. We will then get our earnest money back and be ok to take our time and look for the house that is right for us.

Peace out

progress and irritation

2005-09-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

We went to my son's doctors today and received a more formal plan for training his bowels to empty completely when he intends for them to. We are happy there is a more concentrated effort on his doctor's part to remedy this and look forward to a good outcome.

When we arrived home from the doctor, we received a phone call from the school board informing us that they had received a call from the principal stating that if something didn't change with Karston he wouldn't be able to atten her school. This infuriates me as she never tried to communicate with us. His teacher has been very proactive in communicating with us and trying to figure out what can be done to help. The principal on the other hand simply called the school board and implied that he is possibly contagious and asked them to step in and handle the problem. I have worked with special education before so I'm not going to be bullied and told that my son can't be in school. They will provide us with whatever is necessary to be sure that he thrives in the public school system. I am highly disappointed and irritated with the principal's reaction. We have a meeting with his teacher Thurs. morning before school and requested that the principal be there but she can't. I will express my disappointment with the principal to the teacher.

Good Weekend

2005-09-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

This ended up being a good weekend despite my little brother kicking my butt in fantasy football. We signed the counter contract for the house, so a SOLD sign goes in the yard tomorrow. All we have to do now is get the inspection done and get the financing we want. We're pretty excited about it and look forward to moving in and beginning to decorate the way we want to.

best weekend of the year

2005-09-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

this has to be one of the best weekends of the year. Although college football started last week, this is the week that Alabama Crimson Tide is nationalyy televised, it also marks the first official weekend of NFL action. Doesn't get much better.

On the house front, we are $80, that's right eighty dollars away from their last offer and it has to be so for financing purposes, and we are running into trouble. Because of the $80 difference, they want us to take it as is meaning no inspection. That is crazy, it means that if we agree and find mold in the attic that we lose our earnest money if we back out of the deal. Over eighty bucks!!! We told them no way, that it has to keep the inspectin clause in the deal. We'll see.

rough day

2005-09-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

My son had another bowel accident at school. This makes 7 accidents out of 10 days at school. His teacher called today after I sent a note letting her know I wanted to talk about options that we can help him. The accidents occur due to the spina bifida he was born with and has left him with a weak left leg and bowel problems. His teacher is concerned with his self-esteem as kids are noticing it. It is also frustrating that he doesn't tell his teacher when he does have an accident. The teacher let us know that they can't clean him on a regular basis, they also can't continue to put his clothes in a plastic bag and send it home with him because it stinks in the room. We are meeting with her thurs. morning after we see his doctors on tuesday. She suggested that he may have to begin wearing pull-ups to school and he really doesn't want to do that because to him that is being a baby. I don't want him to do that either but we will if we have to. We are going to talk to the doctors about something we can do to improve the situation. I asked him if he would be willing to have another surgery if it helps him stop having accidents and he said he would be willing. That hurts me to hear because it gives me an insight into how this disability affects him. Tonight at prayer time I felt that it would be good if he prayed for healing for himself with the childlike innocence. He prayed "Jesus please fix my tummy so I don't have to wear pull-ups to school" I let him know that Jesus likes when kids talk to him and he should pray that every night. Please pray with us for healing for him and that it won't damage him emotionally.

playing the game

2005-09-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this process of placing a bid on a house has been interesting. Our initial offer was for 14k below their listing and they countered with 2k below listing. We came back and offered 10k below and they countered with 3k stating they felt that was as low as they could go because they don't have a lot of equity in the house. I am comfortable with their latest counter but really want to get it down a little more. We split the difference and tonight offered 6k below listing. Their comment was that they didn't think they could go that low but would talk about it. Didn't hear from them tonight so well let them sit on the offer over the weekend. They haven't had renters for 3 months and have had no other offers so I hope they will agree to our latest offer which would give us some room to finance a little more than selling price so we can do a few little things when we move in. If they don't budge, I will probably accept their counter of 3k below.

2005-09-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

weight....loss and gain

2005-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's official, I went to LA Weight Loss yesterday and got the news that I have lost 30 of my 35 pound goal since the beginning of July. It's pretty cool not having clothes that fit and hearing people comment on the weight I've lost.

My wife figures she will be gaining about as much as I have lost due to the pregnancy. That should be interesting. I recommend LA Weight Loss to anyone looking to lose weight.

bid on a house

2005-09-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

Big news for today is that we made an offer on the house we saw over the weekend. Was a little scary as we realized we are really going for it. No idea how the seller will respond although we know she hasn't received an offer before ours. Will deliver the check for the earnest money tomorrow. We are still excited about the possibility and hope it works out to be the house we buy. We would ask for your prayers that we have favor with the seller and she decides to work with us easily.

Also had a prayer and planning meeting for the launch of The Gathering Place Church (www.gatheringplacechurch.us) tonight. It went well and we are beginning to formulate teams of people to fulfill certain necessary jobs as we aproach the launch date of Feb. 5, 2006. If you are interested in finding out more about the dream, vision and mission of The Gathering Place Church, please send an email with your interest to pastor@gatheringplacechurch.us and we will be sure to share with you how you can play a signficant role at this crucial time of the church.

Charis has continued to have some nausea but less today than yesterday.

I have really enjoyed picking up the saxophone again after several years and really enjoy playing with our church band on Wednesdays and Sundays. Feel that it is slowly coming back to me. We have a great team, led by a keyboard and lead vocalist from Ghana Africa, two excellent drummers who rotate between drums and percussion, myself on saxophone, a great bass playing attorney and 4 gifted vocalists. We have a great time and our church is blessed with a quality music team that always gets positive comments from those who hear them for the first time.

Guess I'll hit the bed now, peace out.

first ultrasound

2005-09-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

After looking at houses today, we went to the doctor for our first ultrasound. We were told that we weren't 8 weeks pregnant but instead were 6 and a half weeks. We also had the opportunity to see the heartbeat which is pretty phenomenal as the ultrasound technician informed us that the baby is essentially the size of a grain of rice with a heartbeat. It just goes to underline the amazing miracle of God that is the process of a child being created. The doctor called back to inform us that due to some past complications we have had, she spoke to a high risk doctor who feels they should keep a close eye on us throughout the process and that they will be taking the baby at about 37 weeks. We are very excited about the process and ask your prayers for health and safety throughout the process.

Our babies development at this stage is as follows:

The brain is forming three separate parts: the forebrain (memory and reasoning), the midbrain (translates messages from the brain to organs and limbs) and the hindbrain (regulates breathing and muscle movement). At this point the embryo is now three-dimensional and completely enclosed in the amniotic sac.
Your baby's heart is now beating and blood circulation is evident. The kidneys and liver are growing fast, and the neural tube, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, closes.
The placenta is rapidly developing, however, it will not take over hormone production until about week 12.

house hunting

2005-09-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

Just came back from looking at a few houses. Very excited about the possibilities of one of the houses. Need to wait until October for pre-approval. Really hope the home is still available at that time but we know God has our best interests at heart and if it isn't available, then in the right timing there will be something that better suits our needs.

morning sickness and media sickness

2005-09-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Charis had no morning sickness with the first two, but it has begun now. 3:00 in the morning sickness to be exact. I did better than usual though and was able to help her without getting sick myself. I informed her this morning that she can't do this for 9 months lol. I have also informed my television that I can't take another week of finger pointing and blame game concerning Katrina and who is to blame for this and that. IT WAS A HUGE STORM AND THE DEVASTATION COULDN'T HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!!! Response was slow because of the flooding that began after the hurricane. Response was slow because idiots were rioting causing those bringing help to retreat, because people were stealing tv's that they can't plug in anywhere because there is no electricity. I fully understand looting grocery stores for food and water, I would do the same to take care of my family if I was there, but tv's??? Response was also slow because people were running around with guns being stupid. SHOOTING AT THE ENGINEERS REPAIRING THE LEVY????????? How stupid is this. Why didn't the government respond faster, why didn't the government have buses and helicopters and airplanes to evacuate people before the storm? Because this kind of devastation wasn't expected. If it was, why didn't the mayor who needs to be quiet, (and is beginning to refrain from blaming a little more) yell as loudly before the storm as he has after. And PLEASE stop talking about the country and government not being concerned with poor people. This country spends so much money and policy on the poor (and thankfully so as I have been the beneficiary of government programs in the past) that it is an invalid argument to say the government doesn't care about the poor.

This was a tragedy that we can learn from. It was precedent setting and we always learn how to respond better the second time. We all need to stop blaming one another and help. The media can begin to pat themselves on the back and report on how much they are helping and how much money they are raising and give that equal time with the tragedy and negativity. After all, I'm assuming that since they have the inside scoop and the details of the tragedy which causes them to feel they have to help. Right? they have to be doing something and all of America hasn't heard about it yet. Lets all stop blaming, myself included, and pray and help.

Pray for the officers who have been forced to shoot those they should be protecting, for the first responders who have seen enough death to last a lifetime, for the families of those officers who commited suicide because it was too much for them to bear. Pray and find an organization through whom you can help.

Peace out

first blog

2005-09-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog, interested to see how I keep up with it and chronicle our life. We just came back from a two night camping trip with the boys. Had a good time cooking over the fire and sleeping in the tent. Josiah did fall from the jungle gym and cut his eye....but that happens when you have boys. I imagine this blog will be a hodgepodge of topics. Our efforts with helping my father build a new church, The Gathering Place, (www.gatheringplacechurch.us) in the north suburbs of Chicago. Our 5 yr old sons first year in kindergarten and the struggles he may or may not have with some minor disabilities he has. The crazy and cute things my 3 yr old son does as well as thee updates on our third child currently in the oven. The continuing and ever changing walk with God in our life and where his callings take us as well as news on our family developments. Will probably share some of my insights during my devotionals as well.

With that in mind. The Gathering Place Church began about 18 months ago with 8 people. During that time we have grown to about 30-40 people and lease a Lutheran Church building. We have learned a lot during this time, gotten close to one another and suffered the grief of losing a beloved and integral member of our church to pancreatic cancer. We have come to realize that we have grown in to a good core group of people and are ready to do a launch that really puts us on the map in the area. We are currently praying for God to supply a large amount of money for this purpose and praying that a church planting group we have begun to build relationship with will partner with us and match funds and give us key insights into strategy and solid church planting strategies. Please pray with us to this end. We are targetting February 5th 2006 as our official launch date. This is a date that coincides with a call to fast and pray for 6 months. This also marks the one year anniversary of our dear friend's death and it seems especially poignant that this be the date for our launch.

We are expecting our third child, will see the doctor tomorrow for the first ultrasound and exact due date. We are also going to look at houses tomorrow and are excited about the possibility of buying a home and getting out of our cramped apartment.

For a brief update for those of you who know me and wonder what is going on with us. We moved to Chicago in 2002 to be youth pastors in a local church. 6 months after arriving, the pastor moved to Florida. We had some disagreements with the direction of the church after his departure and felt it was time for us to resign after being there for one year and a half. We still dearly love the members of that church and are in contact with many of them. We had the opportunity to go to churches in Delaware, New York, Alabama and Florida but felt God wanted us to stay in this area. I began working at Bank One/Chase about two years ago and have been blessed with promotion and success. I now do personal banking with an emphasis on investments and hope to move into a position as a financial advisor within months. Please pray that this will work out for me. Charis and I feel strongly that God would have us plant a church in the city of Chicago in a few years. We know that our calling right now is to see The Gathering Place become a successful life-giving church in the north suburbs of Chicago.

Sorry for the long blog, in the future they will be more succinct.